WHOA...

This is a big birthday for me.

I can no longer be called a 'young thing'.
(And I have felt like a 'young thing' for SO LONG!!)

Well I guess when I start qualifying for Medicare, well, I know I am no longer a 'young thing' anymore.
My youth is behind me.

Am I sorry it is behind me?
NO!
I am RELIEVED!!!

I am just glad to have lived this long.


I turned one in this photo...

(I think that's me on the right.)

And I was before one-year-old in this next photo...

I'm pretty sure that is me (I) on the left.
I'm staring at my dad...
and then he said, "Yes, Nancy, I. AM. YOUR. FATHER."

I don't mean to make light of the STAR WARS' reference...
in light of Princess Leia's (Carrie Fisher's) recent death.

That makes me think (always) of how someone told me in the early '80s
that I resembled Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher).

Only one person told me that... a lady in Hinton, Oklahoma, at church one Sunday night.
It made an impression.
A wonderful impression.
I will always remember that.

It made me feel beautiful.


And then years later my little granddaughter was Princess Leia for Halloween...

I was bonding with Granddaughter Nell more than her folks imagined.
I mean, we were BOTH Princess Leia!
(though it was just in my head-- which is somewhere, you know.)



So I am telling you I am 65.
And Carrie Fisher never will be.
Nor will my twin, Peggy Jean (I am Nancy Jane).

But that is life... and death.

And Carrie Fisher's mom wanted to be with her ...
and so died the day after Carrie did.
That may not be cause and effect.
That may be just their 'time'.

But that reminds me (as if I need to be reminded) that life is short.
Life is fragile.

I think of my twin Peggy every single day of every single week of every single month of every single year.
But I don't cry anymore.
I haven't cried in a while.

But oh, I think of her.

She had a profound impact on my life.

I do not know where/how I would be without her.
(I'm thinking a recluse?)

This is her birthday, too.

I'm moving on without her.

I have been for years.

But this is her birthday, too.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PEGGY JEAN.

Because of you I am who I am,
Nancy Jane.

So now I may go spend some time with her little girl soon,
whom she would be so proud of...

And then maybe see sometime her handsome son,

Yeah, I know.
He is swoon-worthy.

Okay.
I'll quit...
and
I will have a good 65th birthday.

I need to write that a lot... for it to sink in.

Yes, it IS SINKING IN!

I. AM. AN. OLDER. LADY...
WORTHY OF RESPECT.

(I LIKE RESPECT.)
(BUT YOU DON'T HAVE TO BOW/CURTSY BEFORE ME.)
(Unless it comes naturally.)