I say it's my birthday...

So - it's my birthday today. I was born into this world the same year as the Canadian flag, and we are both 44 this year, although the flag is a wee bit older than me, having been inaugurated on February 15, 1965. I was inaugurated a little after 1a.m. on April 27, 1965, after my parents went to a drive-in movie (they can't remember what movie) and my mother consumed most of a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken. And, après le poulet, le deluge.

4 being an unlucky number in China, my 44th - double-4 - year is not expected to be very auspicious, according to my Chinese co-worker, "but in practice it almost never happens like that". Well, that's something, and also she gave me a beautiful Indonesian carved cat which is now overseeing my office from a privileged vantage point.

Husband surprised me mid-morning with a beautiful Dieffenbachia plant (we have a tradition of giving living plants, not cut flowers), which I will do my very best not to kill. (My mother, who has such a green thumb that all the townspeople in the village where I grew up would bring her their dying plants to adopt and save, grew a Dieffenbachia which became so enormous that it encroached perilously onto my Father's Chair - you know, The Dad's Chair - to the point where my father, who knew this was a battle he couldn't win, would take to occasionally choking random branches of the thing with his bare hands while he was watching tv, just as an outlet for his frustration.) Husband also gave me my birthday card, which involved a cow wearing a sombrero and saying "¡HOLA!" and a pun involving "MOO-ey bueno". Hard to top that.

My boss took me and that same Chinese co-worker - whose birthday was last week, although I believe she is turning 14 - to lunch at Chez Riz, our favourite restaurant here. And this afternoon, Husband returned again with a gift he'd forgotten when he brought the plant - a Hello Kitty mouse. Who, who could conceive of such a cunning thing?

Husband and I went out for drinks after work, and all-around, this has been a truly wonderful birthday. We're going shopping for my Big Gift next weekend, since Husband wanted to give me clothing, and we all know what a nightmare-mangrove-swamp shopping for women's clothing can be for men.

But maybe we won't buy clothing after all. I've kind of had my eye on this.

Given that Canadian womens' lifespan is now 82.6 years, it appears that I've statistically run out only about half my time. Can this be right? I'm sure, given my "special" health issues, that I don't necessarily have my whole life to date to run over again. And, of course, a lot of parameters have changed.

But still. Only halfway to the finish line and having this much fun. It's a pip, isn't it?

ronnie