i turned fifty earlier this month. as this mile-marker grew closer, i found myself imagining what i should do here in this space to acknowledge the moment. coming into the weekend i thought i'd ask alex to to hook me up with a pitcture, like he did in utah when i started my new adventure as a business owner. he did such an exceptional job then ( utah ), i thought he would be the one to tap again.

then the weekend began with a surprise visit by one of my best friends (bookpimp who lives three states away) and i was swept up in the current of the moment. before i knew it monday morning arrived and i was dropping my bud off at the airport. no super pic to commemorate the day.

but something quite super did take place (in addition to my surprise visitor). marty had reached out to a variety of people from my past and asked them to share a memory or thought they had about me. her goal was to get fifty such contributions. when i lifted the lid off of this pedestrian looking box and saw the orderly line of envelopes, i leafed from one to the next marvelling at the sprawling list of names, penned in marty's crisp print at the top of each envelope. i wasn't so much speechless as i was tripping over my own questions about, well, about it all. where'd the idea come from? how'd she pull it off? how did she find ALL these people? in the end i just sat stupified at the orchestration of it as well as the group effort it took to deliver each card into this box that now sat on my lap.

i can only read one or two a day. to do more proves overwhelming, emotionally at least. but of all the possible half-century celebrations, my marta made the quintessential choice for mine (and bookpimp did his part too with his surprise visit). no dance parties or destination journeys. just me, a reading chair and some stories from friends and family. personal bliss.