Day 50
When I turned 50 (many moons ago) my lovely friends drew a 3-sectioned poster of me in a convertible and put it in my yard. The girl on the poster was cuter (and younger) than I’ve ever been. But it was great! I don’t remember now what the slogan was – something like, “Wish Happy Birthday to Les as she drives off in the sunset of old age.” or something along those lines.
I remember my dad saying, “Fifty is nifty.” Of course, at the time he was 80 … so, I imagine fifty sounded really nifty to him.
It sounded OLD to me. I felt old and alone.
Tim died the summer before that eventful birthday and when that day came around my friends were there to help me celebrate in grand style. They were so wonderful. We gathered at a friend’s backyard, as usual with the girls on each other’s birthdays, for drinks and munchables.
At some point during the festivities a super long, stretch (very stretchy) limo pulled up and the driver came to the back patio asking for me. My first thought was, “Oh dear god – they got a stripper.” And thankfully they did not. But we all piled into the limo … and were whisked off to my favorite little restaurant for a private dinner in the front room of the renovated old house turned restaurant. I think there were 13 of us. It was fantastic.
So, if you are reading, ladies, thanks again for a very memorable 50th birthday bash. What a surprise … and you did make fifty quite nifty!!!
What comprises 50 years?
Without taking into account leap year days … 50 years is roughly 18,250 days or 438,000 hours or 26,280,000 minutes. Hmm … I thought it would be more than that.
In the last 50 years we’ve seen the birth of Rock ‘n Roll and we’ve gone from playing those songs on record albums to listening to them on our portable phones.
We’ve seen man walk on the moon and space stations and satellites that house such technology as to see into our homes from that distance.
We’ve seen too many wars to mention … Korea, Viet Nam, Persian Gulf, all that has happened in the Middle East, the many civil wars … too much hatred towards one another as people, and faiths, and ideologies. Too many victims … too much loss.
And no one will ever think of September 11th in the same way, again.
We’ve seen politicians come and go. Some on their own terms with grace and honor … and some in shackles with imprisonment as their future. Do you remember Watergate? I was a junior in high school. The only thing I really remember about that time was Nixon saying he was not a crook and the movie All the President’s Men and thinking that Robert Redford was the most gorgeous guy on the planet. Obviously, I had my priorities straight!
Some officials died … some were taken from us: Stalin, Osama bin Laden, Mao Tse-Tung, Tito, Saddam Hussein, and so many others … and where were you when JFK was shot?
Animation went from single cel drawings to the amazing technology (so real!) that it is today.
We’ve seen fashions go from bobby socks to neon minis to glitter to goth and everything in between. If tie-dye, shoulder pads and polyester ever make a big come-back I’m going naked.
We’ve seen hair and nail polish colors go wild and become anything … or nothing. A shaved head is still in fashion (even for some women) as is gray for teens.
We’ve gone from burning our trash in our yards to recycling, reusing, and rethinking what we dispose of.
We’ve gone from a healthy, booming post-war country to a nation that outsources its jobs, is critically in debt, and has the highest incidence of disease and obesity of its people.
Yin and yang … good and bad … happy and sad. Wonder what the next fifty will bring?