HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME ! ! ! ! !

I am writing this tonight (that would be Thursday June 5th). Because tomorrow (that would be June 6th) is my Big Ole Fat Happy Birthday!!!!!

I shall be fifty one.

Yes I am more than half a century old. I am older than Wal-Mart. I am older than Target. I am one year older than Pizza Hut. I am two years younger than Disneyland.

I can easily remember a time before computers and cell phones. ( Heck even before cordless phones.) Before CD's which according to my kids are now practically passe.

I remember the barbaric times when girls had to wear dresses to school, and we were told that if we didn't we would not act like ladies. Finally we were allowed to wear pants (but NOT jeans) every other Friday. And eventually that led to being allowed to wear pants every day, by the time I reached 9th grade. I never wore another dress to school. Ever.

And believe it or not girls still managed to be fairly civilized.

I remember the sixties, even though I was still a kid. I actually even remember where I was when I heard that President Kennedy had been shot.

I remember poodle skirts and bobby socks ( I was probably five or six) And I remember them giving way to mini- skirts and go-go boots.

I remember when anything physcadelic was cooler than anything. (I don't think we really even could describe that word but believe me we knew what it was)

I remember going to Shakeys Pizza Parlour for Pizza and Farrels ice cream parlour for ice cream.

I remember when McDonalds were just tiny little walk in places with no seating and no Big-macs, only hamburgers, cheese burgers, fillet o fish, french fries and milkshakes.

On a more local note.

Even though I was born and raised in Seattle, both my Parents were from the Tri-Cities. My Dad's family were the Brinkerhoffs from Richland and My mom's were the Mathews from Pasco. I loved, LOVED, the Tri- Cities.

Coming here was one of my greatest joys.

I remember spending summers here. I was lucky to have my uncles Richard and Keith who were one year older than me and one year younger than me. In Summertime we would walk all over Richland. Going to 7-11 and getting slurpies and going to what is now the George Prout Memorial pool and swimming and more swimming. Richard and I were especially close. We loved to make all kinds of concoctions in the kitchen and quite a few of them were highly edible. Grandma Brinkerhoff had a creepy crawlers toy stove and plenty of goop and we would make and eat creepy crawlers.

I loved going to Grandma Mathews in Pasco. I absolutely loved driving past the grapevines on our way to her house in early Autumn and how much I loved the smell of those grapes. Most importantly though were my Aunt Carolyn, who was I think, four years older than me and my twin uncles Loren and Leon who were two years older. Carolyn was just old enough to be fascinating to me. She was so pretty and so cool and she willingly let us play with her Barbies. Hanging out with the twins was some of the most fun I ever had. We got into so much trouble but it was fun trouble. I learned more than I ever wanted to know about body-building from the twins. I also became very familiar with their early taxidermy efforts.

Back Home.

I remember the 70's. Those were actually my years.

School went from bad, to really bad, to not so bad, to just happy that it's over and I would never do it again. Although I do have some incredible memories from those times. Several of them (like I mentioned in previous posts) Not anything to be proud of but then I think sometimes anything it takes to survive teenagerhood is worth it. At least as long as you know when to walk away with no lasting damage.

Yes I can say that I am truly happy sitting here at fifty-one. It has taken a lot to get here and yes some of it wasn't pretty but I can't honestly think of anything I would change. Not that it was so great, but because, I wouldn't want to take a chance that my now would be any different.
And I hope that everyone reading this can agree with me that, yes, life is never perfect, but it sure is ,

ONE HECK OF A RIDE!!!!!!!


So Happy 51st Birthday to me.