Then I had dinner with my real-life IF friend and learned more about her recent diagnosis and their treatment plans. It was an emotional chat--as it always is with us--but we also laugh a lot. And drink a lot, too.
And now I'm going to polish off an abstract for a conference, head to yoga, and then go see the Cherry Blossoms in the park. I'm a lucky girl with a great life, and today I know it.
TO MY TWENTIES
How lucky that I ran into you
When everything was possible
For my legs and arms, and with hope in my heart
And so happy to see any woman
O woman! O my twentieth year!
Basking in you, you
Oasis from both growing and decay
Fantastic unheard of nine- or ten-year oasis
A palm tree, hey! And then another
And another (and water!)
I’m still very impressed by you. Whither,
Midst falling decades, have you gone? Oh in what lucky fellow,
Unsure of himself, upset, and unemployable
For the moment in any case, do you live now?
From my window I drop a nickel
By mistake. With
You I race down to get it
But I find there on
The street instead, a good friend,
X—- N——, who says to me
Kenneth do you have a minute?
And I say yes! I am in my twenties!
I have plenty of time! In you I marry,
In you I first go to France; I make my best friends
In you, and a few enemies. I
Write a lot and am living all the time
And thinking about living. I loved to frequent you
After my teens and before my thirties.
You three together in a bar
I always preferred you because you were midmost
Most lustrous apparently strongest
Although now that I look back on you
What part have you played?
You never, ever, were stingy.
What you gave me you gave whole
But as for telling
Me how best to use it
You weren’t a genius at that.
Twenties, my soul
Is yours for the asking
You know that, if you ever come back.
Beautiful poem. Happy early birthday! So glad you got to meet Egg in person. She's so awesome. Love her!
ReplyDeleteSo glad to see your positive outlook on life - it's so important to remind ourselves of the good stuff, of which there is lots.
Happy Birthday! That's a lovely poem. I'm glad that you have good things planned for this, the last day of your 20's. And the water here in the 30's is pretty nice, I swear. Though it's always so strange to step over those thresholds.
ReplyDeleteGlad the sun is shining for you today (and enjoy those lovely cherry blossoms)!!
Goodbye, 20-something Sloper! I'll say hello to the 30-yr-old sloper tomorrow! A fresh start. A new decade. An opportunity...
ReplyDeleteFunny, I didn't even WANT kids (actively) until I was well into being 31-- so just think how far ahead of me you are in all this! I hope things will work out for you soon, to give you the new decade that you desire.
hope you enjoyed the last day of your 20's today :o) the weather was sooo freakin awesome, wasn't it??
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday! And honestly, other than the whole, "I-can't-seem-to-get-pregnant" thing, the 30s have been very good to me so far. I hope they are EXCELLENT to you. :)
ReplyDeleteHAPPY 30th HONEY!!!
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday!
ReplyDeleteHappy belated birthday! I hope there are excellent surprises waiting for you in the first year of your 30s. :)
ReplyDeleteI hope you had a splendid birthday, and I hope 30 is good to you!
ReplyDeleteHappy belated SS!!! Hope you had a fabulous day, and that 30 brings nothing but wonderful things to your life this year!!
ReplyDeleteHappy (now belated) birthday!!! I hope it was super fun!
ReplyDelete