The annual increasing number: 66

So! Yet another birthday, huh? For me, 66 is one of the “non-significant” birthdays, mainly because I tend to focus more on those ending in zero or five, but this year was unusually fraught. For one thing, I realised that because birthdays are annual events, I’m now closer to 70 than I am to 60 (and yes, I’m aware that was technically true the day after my 65th birthday, but now it’s officially official). Still, my day turned out fine, which is probably the main thing.

I was dreading this birthday because when I celebrate it, January 21 New Zealand time, is January 20 in the USA. Every four years that corresponds to the swearing in of the US president, and there was absolutely no way I was going to watch the coronation of The Orange One: Worst.Birthday.Present.EVER! However, because my side of the political divide values truth and facts: The swearing-in part takes place at 6am NZDT, and I’m never up at that time unless the loo beckons. Nigel and I got up and watched in 2009, mainly to make sure Bush was gone, and I also got up and watched in 2021, mainly for Nigel, to make sure the Orange Stain was gone. So staying in bed at that ghastly hour was true-to-form for me.

Even so, I was planning on avoiding Facebook this morning, but since many of my friends were taking part in the “Blackout” (avoiding all Meta products for this week) I figured it would be safe to venture on it, because there’s be very few posts about the circus in Washington, DC. I was right, but wrong about a different aspect: I assumed that the Blackout would mean I’d get very few birthday greetings on Facebook, but I actually got a lot (and I was grateful for every one, even if I was a little surprised).

As for how my day went, this is what I wrote on Facebook:

My birthday so far: This morning, I made poached eggs on toast with sliced Edam cheese because I felt like it and it’s my birthday. They also have freshly ground salt & pepper and some dried parsley from my garden. I seldom make poached eggs on a weekday—no idea why not.

This afternoon I went to Kmart and bought myself some boxer-type shorts for sleeping (I need to get rid of some that are worn out or that aren’t comfortable) and a couple shirts. It was probably the first time I’ve bought anything in that particular Kmart in 10 or 12 years, the last time I was there with Nigel. Since moving to Hamilton, I’ve always walked out with nothing. Gotta say, the shop’s much better than it was not very long ago!

I went to Kmart at all because I was going to Woolies (this week was that supermarket’s turn), and it’s next door to that Kmart. Oddly, I didn’t but any special treats for myself at the supermarket.

My poached eggs this morning.

Yesterday, I went out for lunch with some of the family because one of my sisters-in-law and her daughter (my niece) were in town, so she organised lunch with several of us as a kind of early birthday celebration for me. It was a really nice outing! All the more so because I was planning a quiet day today.

However, for some reason I woke up VERY sleepy yesterday, probably because I went to bed a couple hours earlier than usual (my body probably thought, “WTF are you doing to me?!”). That meant I was a bit subdued yesterday. I went to be last night at a slightly later time, and got up a little bit later than yesterday, but with no less sleep. I was considerably less sleepy today, though still felt very tired and at least a little sleepy. That alone made this birthday unusual.

I said on Facebook yesterday that because I wasn’t planning anything special for today, “I might make a ‘special’ dinner tomorrow night (meaning something I wouldn’t normally make on a weeknight), or maybe I’ll order pizza. Not sure yet.” In the end, I ordered pizza—but that mention that I don’t make poached eggs every day? That was actually a subtle reference back to something I wouldn’t normally make on a weeknight”. I doubt anyone caught that, but I often like to put little easter eggs in things I post on Facebook. And, for the record, the pizza I ordered today was from a local place not very far from my house, and it was very meh. Sadly, I have no good options for pizza delivery.

And that was my day. A couple wines while I watch TV will finish out my evening before I head bed and return to normal normal life tomorrow.

So, my annual increasing number happened again. This year was just an ordinary number, and there are three more (assuming I have any…) until my next "significant birthday". One thing I know for certain is that it’ll be here before I know it and yet, there's one more thing: My birthday is probably the day I miss Nigel the most, because he loved to make a big deal out of my birthday, even though he hated anyone making a fuss about his birthday. He always made me feel so very special on my birthday, even on the ordinary number birthdays. I miss that feeling almost as much as I miss him.

The US Route 66 sign is a public domain graphic available from Wikimedia Commons. US Route 66 in Illinois had its original 1926 terminus at Jackson Boulevard and Michigan Avenue in Chicago, a spot I was at or near many times in my years living in Chicago. However, over the years there were many changes in the Chicago and Illinois parts of the road, and especially the approach to Chicago and within it. Nothing stays the same forever, of course. That’s true for me, too, oddly enough.

My Previous Birthday posts:

2024: The annual increasing number: 64
2023: The annual increasing number: 64
2022: The annual increasing number: 63
2021: The annual increasing number: 62
2020: The annual number increase happened
2019: Another 'Big Birthday'
2018: The annual increasing number: 59
2017: The annual increasing number: 58
2016: The annual increasing number: 57
2015: The annual increasing number: 56
2014: The annual increasing number: 55
2013: The annual increasing number: 54
2012: The annual increasing number
2011: The annual increasing number
2010: The annual increasing number
2009: Happy Birthday to Me…
2008: Another Birthday