EGADS! 3/4 OF A CENTURY OLD

One of the finest gifts my mother ever gave me was keeping a baby-book chock-full of ephemera! I am documented within an inch of my life, both in pictures and in words.

I do believe a picture taken at every one of my birthday parties from age 1 through 10 is in that book. All my little schoolmates appear in those pictures, and to look at them now is a real trip down memory lane.

Unlike one of my daughters who has always felt disappointed that as she got older no one made a big hoopla out of her birthday, I don't like hoopla. And I am especially glad that no one ever gave me a surprise party. It has nothing to do with aging; it does have to do with the fact that I don't like attention drawn to myself.

Through much of my working career I used a temp agency to keep myself busy. I loved the challenge of new places, new things and new people. I always made sure I wasn't working on my birthday and I planned things that I wanted to do to celebrate. I did throw myself a nice birthday party when I turned 50 -- enough friends to sit around the dining room table and share a dinner that Jerry and I cooked. Later when I worked for six years at the Salvation Army, I never told anyone when my birthday was, but on that day I always brought in some wonderful dessert that I made and shared it with my office colleagues, telling them that I wanted to try out a recipe but Jerry and I didn't need to eat the whole thing ourselves! They were happy to have the goodies, and I was happy to share. "Birthday" was never mentioned.

When I turned 70 I invited 38 family members to join us at Yangtze Restaurant in Ontario for a wonderful lunch of #7 - as only Yangtze can do it.

This year Jer and I are heading into Los Angeles to have lunch at our favorite Greek Restaurant, Sofi's, and then to West Hollywood to see a documentary that is only playing at one theater in all of Southern California. Then we drive home. This is exactly what I wanted to do today. It may not be a celebration for some, but for me it is perfect.

So all's well on the birthdy front. I just can't figure out how 75 got here so quickly!