Surprise Party

Tonight I was expecting a nice relaxing dinner with friends. Unbeknownst to me, my sneaky daughter and best friend planned a surprise 60th birthday party. Now, I have been doing my best to ignore this milestone in my life. I sure don't feel 60 and hopefully don't act like it either.

I appreciate all the efforts that went into the party. It was very thoughtful and I thanks my friends for their love and support. Hopefully the future will bring more surprises as I watch my beautiful grandchildren grow to adulthood. I thoroughly enjoyed surprising those at the party by arrive earlier than they expected.

I plan to spend the rest of my life enjoying it to the fullest, not being totally predictable and doing the unexpected.

Blonde Moments

I pride myself on being a sensible, logical, fairly intelligent, responsible person. But every once in a while my blonde stereotype take over. Last week was a perfect example of this phenomenon. My son-in-law and his friend stopped over to pick up an entertainment center and lawn furniture. I was really grateful because I'd been waiting several months for them to arrive. I backed my car out of the garage so they could pick up the lawn furniture and put the garage house door opener on the seat of the car. When Lane and Shane left, I drove the car back into the garage. Fast forward several hours later when I went to put trash in the garage and couldn't find the door opener.............

I had a "FLASH" and remembered that the opener was in the car - inside the garage. Oh NO!!!! I don't have an access door to the garage. I decided to try to break into the garage through the window - it's the same method I used 3 years ago. So, I put on my safety glasses, tennis shoes, long pants and headed out to the garage with my trusty hammer. I pounded on the window expecting the glass to shatter. Hmmmmmm - that was strange, it didn't break. So I put my considerable weight behind it and it still didn't break. I scratched my head and thought I need a chisel, so I got a phillips head screwdriver and pounded on that still no luck. By now, I'm wondering if the police are going to arrive. But then I remember, I live in Flint and if no gun shots are fired and there isn't any blood, police don't arrive. But now, I have figured out that hen I had the window repaired, they used tempered glass.

I was TRAPPED at home!!!! I called Mom and she said she'd take me to work on Monday. The good news is that wonderful Scott, my handyman, was coming to do some work at my house on Tuesday. He had the special tool needed to break tempered glass and was in the garage in a few minutes.

Blonde moment over.............all's well that ends well!!! BUT it was traumatic while it lasted.

Fall in Michgan

I spent this weekend in beautiful northern Michigan. The weather was misty, damp and the trees were starting to turn colors. We visited the wineries and had wonderful tasting. I bought some fantastic wines and enjoyed the gorgeous vista from the Chateau.

Then we visited the local casinos and I lost all control. Now, I'm not a dedicated gambler. I go because my friends love gambling. Normally, we stay at a hotel that has a shuttle, so when I lose my designated amount of money I can go back to the hotel. Well...........unfortunately, the hotels did not have shuttles. So I was stuck at the casinos - I got bored so I kept playing and playing and playing. The Indians won this war................I made a substantial donation to the Indian tribes of northern Michigan.

Turning 60 - YUCK

Well it had to happen. I was born in 1949 so it was inevitable - I couldn't avoid turning 60 this year. How did this happen? When I turned 55, it bothered me.......but didn't depress me to the same degree. Now I do have to acknowledge that I really don't feel 60. I've been told by many people that I don't look 60 - don't act 60 and I definitely don't want to be 60. I've been denying my impending birthday in many ways both large and small. I have trouble remembering to take advantage of the senior discount at restaurants. I'm not counting the days until I retire. I enjoy the challenge of working and don't want to give that up.



So, this weekend I went on a vacation to Key West with some friends. We had a great time. The son of one of my co-workers lives in Key West and he showed around to all the local haunts. We went on a sunset cruise. It was fantastic. Key West is a magical place. Everyone is exactly what they want to be there and I admire that in people. The only thing that could have made this better was sharing it with a lover/soul mate.



So........I am again jumping into the pursuit of a lover, friend, soul mate. But this time I've over 60 years old - as hard as that is for me to believe that simple fact.



Wish me luck!

Renaissance Festival

Labor Day Weekend - It was very busy. Started out with my first visit to the Renaissance Festival. Met my friends - drank too much wine - bought feather clips for my hair- got a henna tattoo - I had a fabulous time!!!! As I was enjoying the people watching I couldn't help but wonder if one of the millions of people wandering the Festival were one of my matches.

This brings up another concern. I did have a very fully weekend - my granddaughter spent the night on Saturday since her family was in Au Gres - which made me the chief chauffeur for the weekend. Sunday - I went to the Flint Institute of Art for a glass exhibit and then lunch. On Labor Day - I took Mom and Hannah to the movies. Where am I going to find time for romance.

Since my divorce I've got had a couple of relationships, but they were more "friends with benefits" than romance. No strings - no long term commitments.

I am always over-analyzing things. I need to take it one day at a time.......................

Screening Criteria

I've received my first batch of "matches". As I look at their pictures and read their profiles, I find it very difficult to see myself meeting these people. I know it's terribly unfair. I know how difficult it was to answer the questions. I know how hard it is to find the pictures to post. I had a couple of pictures on my computer, but since I hate to have my picture taken, there aren't many. So, I enlist the aid of a friend at work and ask her to take some pictures. We find a couple we agree don't make me look retarded. So I send them to my daughter, who calls up laughing. She says, "they are OK, but it's your "I hate having my picture taken" face. I need to find some candid shots - but that's difficult since I hide from cameras. I didn't realize this would be difficult on so many different levels.

Let's see - I have to come up with some kind of criteria to use when sorting through the matches. OK - I hate fishing. So I rejected anyone who said fishing was one of their passions.
I'm hesitant to accept matches from anyone whose passion is golf. I tried golf. Golf courses are beautiful places. I like driving the golf carts. In the winter, it would be a wonderful place to visit. So I thought - take lessons - how hard can it be??? Turns out that it's much harder than you'd ever expect. It is very humiliating that I can't hit the golf ball. It's stationery, sitting on the little golf tee and when I swing - I'd swear that ball moved. After several lesson, I gave up and decided golfing wasn't for me. Anyhow I digressed...................

I found 3 matches who sounded interesting and sent them questions - but I was rejected - They closed my match. Now I know how it feels. E-Harmony is definitely persistent. when I open my e-mail there are 6 more matches. So, onward I go..........

Frst Steps

After receiving the "heart to heart" e-mail from my daughter............I decided to take the leap. I signed up on an Internet Dating Site. The HORROR!!! I'm Terrified!!!! On the outside I look like confident, together, intelligent woman - on the inside it's a totally different story........

I've been divorced for 12 years and have been very happy with my life as it is. I have very close girl friends who I spend time with - going to dinner, the movies, and vacations. My son lives out of state and I visit him and his family a couple of times a year. I have a great, challenging job and work with wonderful people - I volunteer - I'm a busy person. But as I edge closer and closer to my retirement years, I see that my wise daughter is correct. It is possible that there is a great man out there waiting to meet me.

So - I went to a popular web site. Completed the profile and waited for my matches to arrive. Arrive they did - I received the first 6 matches. To my disappointment most of them were between 62 and 70. Oh my goodness - I'm having trouble realizing I'm over 50 (and I substantially past the 50 land mark), so dating a 70-year-old seems totally out of the question. So I change my "potential match age range" and hope for the best.

Stay tuned for what comes next......................