Tag: birthday

Christine and the Birthday Decisions
aging · birthday · fitness · fun

Christine and the Birthday Decisions

Christine Hennebury3 Comments

That kind of makes me sound like I’m starting a band, doesn’t it?

If that was my band name, what would our first album be called?

Ahem.

Back on topic:

Wednesday was my birthday and I had a great day.

A hand holding a sparkler at night.
My friend Elaine brought me sparklers and other treats for my birthday. She knows how to make everything more fun. Image description: Christine’s right hand is holding the handle of a burning sparkler – a piece of metal that has been coated at one end so it gives off a sparkly flame as it burns. It is night time.

Usually, on my birthday, I’m trying to cram in so many fun things that I actually end up amplifying my usual feeling that I *should* be doing something else.

I always have fun but I tend to feel a bit tightly scheduled and a bit frustrated.

This year, I noticed that feeling creeping up the day before my birthday and I made a conscious decision to get over myself and be clear about the facts:

I don’t have to limit my fun to one day a year. *

In fact, I can add more fun to every week.

I can even add a bit more fun to every day.

I can take my birthday attitude into the rest of the year.

In a surprise to no one, making that decision took all of the pressure out of my birthday.

And instead of keeping a tally of accumulated fun, I just did what I felt like doing in any given moment.

And that’s how I found myself dropping everything to take Khalee for a walk while the sun was out (instead of at a more ‘logical’ time.)

And, it’s how I found myself sitting peacefully, all by myself in the 5pm darkness, watching the small fire I had set in our fire pit.

Normally, I would have talked myself out of lighting a fire just for me. It’s a little bit of hassle and I didn’t have a lot of time before supper, but I had that bit of birthday ‘permission’ going for me so I crumpled some paper and got the kindling from the shed and settled in next to the fire.

I felt calm and restful and so very grateful for all of the good things in my life.

I even felt a bit more patient about the challenges I tend to encounter

It was a wonderful way to round out a day of giving in to my whims.

And, my birthday gift to myself is the decision to prioritize things like an early evening fire far more often.

I challenge you to do the same. 💚

A nighttime selfie of a woman with a round face wearing a dark hat and dark clothes, she is lit by firelight.
Enjoying the glow of the fire AND the fun of doing just what I wanted to be doing at that moment. Image description: a selfie in which I am outside at night, lit by firelight. I am wearing a dark hat and a dark coat. Only my face is visible and I am smiling contentedly.

*To be clear, I do take time to relax and do fun things on a regular basis. But, on my birthday, I give myself permission to maximize my fun.

blog · blogging · fitness

Happy 7th Anniversary to the Blog!

Sam B

A dark photo of a chocolate cake with rainbow coloured stripey candles. The candles spell out “happy birthday.”
Photo by Marty Southwell, from Unsplash.

Happy 7th birthday to the blog! (Tomorrow is happy 55th birthday to me!)

That the blog’s birthday and my birthday line up so nicely is no coincidence. Tracy and I started the blog roughly two years before our 50th birthdays as part of our “fittest by 50” challenge. If you want the full story about that, buy the book. Or read the blog posts from the early days.

On August 30, 2012 we didn’t write blog posts but we did post a bit about ourselves.

We’re now explicitly a team blog and I’m excited to see what that brings. See our new schedule here.

For me, I’m also branching out, starting a new Dean’s blog. And as I enter the second half of my fifties I’m thinking about a big stretch goal for 60. Still mulling…

boats

Sam’s Birthday Adventures

Sam B1 Comment

54 is just fine so far. I turned 54 last Friday and spent the weekend celebrating. See Happy 54! Celebrate Sam’s Birthday Season. There was a lot of cake but also a lot of friends and family and adventures. Thanks to everyone who took part and helped organize!

On Sunday fifteen friends and family members went rafting on the Grand River with me. Here’s a review of the activity, note though that we were on the shorter, faster section, from Edon Mills to Paris. So much fun. I’d definitely do it again. You can hang with people or go off on your own. Definitely though bring lots of snacks, sunscreen, and things to drink. It wasn’t all about floating leisurely down river. We had a headwind and in some sections if you didn’t paddle you went backwards. My sub-group didn’t paddle much. We were committed mostly to not paddling. It took us the full 5 hours.

Often we rafted up and appointed the people at the edges the chore of paddling.

At one point I landed up in super shallow water and could neither paddle nor float. I got up out of the boat and tried to walk it downstream but nearly lost my boat, paddles, and pfd in the water. Luckily Sarah rescued me! Thanks Sarah!

You can rent kayaks, canoes, large rafts for groups of people, or individual rafts like the one below. Despite the paddles they aren’t actually that maneuverable. And they’re definitely not speed machines.

But they are a lot of fun, especially through the fast sections.

Here’s Jeff’s account of the day.

On Saturday, a group of us rode our bikes 54 km to celebrate my 54th birthday. We chose the country roads east and south of the university being careful to avoid campus because it was move in day. In the end it turned out to be 52 km due to detours but I pedaled around the block a few times to make it an even 54.

Kim didn’t join us for the ride but came along for cake.

Best of all, my former PhD student Mark stopped by with his daughter who is starting university at Guelph and his son who was along for the ride. The teenagers gave us flossing lessons. No video though!

All in all, a happy birthday weekend full of friends, family, cake, and birthday adventures.