Thursday. Oh my gawd, I'm 40. The dreaded day is finally here. It's the new F-word.
Shag it. I'm going to Denny's for my free birthday breakfast. But first, I have to paint my van. After consulting with my legal advisor (Thanks, Mark), I agreed that I would only write on the back and side windows of the van. I wrote "Honk to wish me a happy 40th birthday" on the back window and more hearts and 40's on the sides. The van wasn't a Dodge anymore by the time I was done with it... it was a Davinci.
I was only a few kilometers along my route to Denny's when I heard some wild honking. A guy edged up beside me waving excitedly. I rolled down my passenger window and he said "Happy Birthday! It's her birthday, too, but she's not forty. She's five." pointing at the little girl waving in the back seat. We drove in tandem at about 125 km/hour having this conversation, shouting at the top of our lungs, giving the thumbs up. It was energizing.
After a few more honks, waves and peace signs, I pulled into the Dollar Tree to buy some scissors to make amendments to my birthday tshirt. If I was going to wear this all day, it had to be a lot cuter. I cut the arms off, cut out the neck and made cute little ties at the shoulders and chopped off the bottom. Now, I looked worthy for my fancy Denny's breakfast.
I pulled into the parking lot and was immediately met by three older ladies going for breakfast. They yelled out birthday wishes and asked my some questions about my trip. One of them told me to not worry about turning 40, it was 50 that you had to watch out for. I'm already making my plans for that.
While eating my free breakfast, I over heard at the next table that there was a birthday there as well. Of course I had to go over and wish the boy a happy birthday. Luis was turning 10 today and was on his way to Six Flags. They had seen my van and wanted to get a picture with me. I told him I needed him to sign my shirt, he was too shy at first but then after his mom signed it, he was practically bouncing in his seat wanting to be next. All the waitresses and cook came out to sign my shirt and ask me about my trip and wish me happy birthday. It was great! I felt the love. Before I left, I gave Luis a big hug and the ten dollars my friend had given me to buy flowers to pass out (this was better) and then ran back to my van to get my glass markers. I came back in and gave the markers to Luis and it made his day. It was so fun to see him so happy. This is what life is about.
I continued my drive to Old Orchard, waving, honking and thumbs up all along the way. I had lost count after 100 and didn't try to keep count any more. I was just enjoying feeling the love and good wishes from complete strangers. There are some really great sports out there.
I decided I wanted to check off a few more things off my list and went an hour or so up the road to Old Orchard Beach for some birthday fried dough and to find a fountain. I didn't have any bubble bath so I dumped in some hand sanitizer. People were everywhere even though it was a really cloudy day and started to drizzle......
To be continued tomorrow...
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