A friend of mine celebrated her 90th birthday earlier this week. She began the celebration last Saturday and I’m not sure it’s over yet. I took her flowers on the big day and visited a while.
She began her birthday by eating cake for breakfast. Her husband of 60+ years gave her a dozen red roses (he turned 90 last spring). Late that afternoon she took a spin on the back of her son’s Harley Davidson motorcycle. She’s looking forward to a trip back home to Virginia with her husband and son in their massive RV in about a month.
I told her that I’ll be turning 40 in just a few weeks. She smiled and said, “I don’t remember 40.” Then she thought a minute and added. “I’ve never really felt much older than 40.”
And that, I think, is the formula for living to 90 and doing it well. Cake + Love + Family + Doing = Living
My friend looks forward to getting up and eating cake. She has a husband and family who love her and whom she loves. She makes plans and enjoys herself. She makes 90 look like a really good time!
Her husband laughed and told me when he married her he wasn’t too big on birthdays. His own could pass with little or no celebration and that was just fine. But not his bride. “I’ve never known anyone to enjoy her birthday so much,” he said with a smile. And so he celebrates the woman he’s loved for six decades and I think he enjoys it almost as much as she does.
Here’s to birthday cake for breakfast!