Birthday Quiet

Today -- (after looking at the clock I should say yesterday) -- was my birthday. I'm not big into birthdays. I'm not growing old gracefully. I want to fight it every step of the way. I don't like some of the things that are happening to my body: the mass of grey/white hair that has popped up in my bangs; the fact that I have to go potty ALL THE TIME and I can't hold it for days at a time (i.e. Girl's Camp experience); the many "character lines" that are popping up around my eyes, my forehead and my mouth (I like to say it's because I'm basically a happy person and I smile too much. It helps me feel better about them!); the fact that I have become a lot more blunt when people ask my opinions; etc. etc.

My daughter likes to point out that I'm OLD... my son likes to point out that when a person turns 50 they are "Officially OLD" and that only gives me 8 more years. (Our bishop is a funeral director. I think my kids are having secret meetings with him to pick out my casket!) My husband just loves me... thank heavens. -- Although, he did casually mention the grey hair the other day... "So, darling, why don't you just go have it colored?"

I am slowly moving into the different age category on surveys and censuses. I am inching closer and closer being out of the 38-45 age range. GAH!!!

When I was in my 20's, I told a very young Buttercup that when I turned 30 I would start getting younger and younger and eventually she would be older than me. My darling daughter, who never believed her mother could be so deceitful, totally believed me. It was with great sadness, a few years later, that I had to confess that her mother is a liar and a cheat and that I wouldn't get younger after all. This is the year, had I actually had the "Case of Benjamin Button" (my idea first!!!) that Buttercup would officially be older than me... she turned 18 and I would have turned 17. **Heavy Sigh**


I digress...

In spite of my abhorrence of birthdays, today was a GREAT birthday. I (along with my children) went to MY MOUNTAINS of Montana and spent time with my nephew and his friends who are on their Great Western Adventure, visiting from the Midwest (all 3 just graduated from High School). We had a great day doing all the "touristy" stuff we never do anymore: souvenir shopping in West Yellowstone; watching the Yellowstone movie at the Imax theater and going to the Grizzly Discovery Center. For lunch we roasted hotdogs over the fire at a local campground.

After we exhausted the town, we headed out of West and around Hegben Lake and took the boys to one of our favorite spots... the Crooked Cabin.

Back in 1959 there was a major earthquake in this area and there are still a lot of old buildings around that became uninhabitable but didn't totally fall to the ground. The Crooked Cabin is one of them. My parents took my brother, sisters and I there on occasion when we were younger and we have rediscovered it in the past couple years and have taken our kids and friends there... frequently.



My nephew, Sonny, went to this cabin last summer and wanted to take his friends there. My kids LOVE going there so everyone was in agreement. Off we went!


It's only about a mile from the parking lot to the cabin, so we left Grammy and Papa with the vehicles (they wanted to take a nap) the kids and I took off up the trail. Once at the cabin, the kids rushed in and started goofing off and I just hung around outside. I found a nice rock up the trail and away from the cabin where I could sit down and look over the lake, soaking in the sun while listening to the birds sing and the squirrels (ground squirrels) chatter. There was an occasional thump thump thump from the lake as the pelicans flapped their wings on the water.



The kids goofed off in the cabin (carving names on the floor) for 1/2 hour or so while I soaked in the silence, peace and solitude (and Vitamin D since Mother Nature gave me the gift of sunshine). It was the most blissful 30 minutes I've had in EONS!!



I took a short, one minute video during my time on my rock. I will share it with you here. Turn up your speakers, turn on your fan (to simulate the slight breeze that was blowing) and you can possibly be magically transported to my Quiet Birthday moment! Just hit "replay" 30 times and you can have the whole 1/2 hour experience!





I will clean my camera lens! Sorry for the smudge!