On Becoming Aged To Perfection....

Sunbeams and shadows on aged leaves. (Rebel)
(Click pictures to see larger views)

"Time and Tide wait for no man, but time always stands still for a woman of thirty." ~ Robert Frost

I no longer celebrate birthdays. Having long since passed twenty and thirty, I now choose to celebrate the anniversary of my 30th birthday. That would be today and it is the "uh-mumble-garble-whisper-th" anniversary. When I hit the 30th anniversary of my 30th birthday we may have to start having anniversaries of my anniversary!

I checked out Wikipedia and a long list of famous and infamous people share this birthday; in fact, so many that it suggests we have had over the years, many major snow storms and very cold weather in April. This could account for the large number of January babies. Of course there is Martin Luther King Jr as the most famous; this being his birthday and national holiday we will have closed banks and no mail... alas, the birthday cards that are winging their way here will be late. Others born today include Joan of Arc, but she was burned at the stake. There was a murderess, a duke, a mathematician and a bishop or two.

In residency, I shared my birthday with one of my attendings, Dr. Doris Vendrell. She is a lovely lady, smart and funny and the mother superior for the residency program. Each year we would go out for lunch on "our" day and it was always special. One year I would make the cake, the next year she did. We had much fun on our birthday; of course I hadn't even made it to my 30th birthday then.


(photo by peter rigaud)

This is my brother Stephen, the opera star and also a January baby, although his birthday is nine days from now on the 24th. He is nine years and nine days younger than me. He is also the same brother who gave me the Canon Rebel xti for Christmas and it is absolutely amazing.

Well! A package arrived on Friday afternoon and it was addressed to me.... (mounting excitement here). What do you suppose was in that package? A surprise! Yes, indeed a major surprise and an overwhelming one! Inside that package were the following......


(Rebel)

YES! A zoom lens 70 - 300mm with image stabilization and a wide-angle 28mm lens! I was not expecting this at all and was so overwhelmed that I just sat on the love seat for a half an hour staring at the boxes and giggling... If I could reach right through this computer screen and give him a hug there in Dresden, Germany I would. I've played with the zoom today and it is AWESOME!!!! And the wide angle... I can already think of a lot of paces to use that up in Williamsburg.

So, to my brother..... THANK YOU!!!! THANK YOU!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!
I am so excited and here the day is just beginning!!!

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