A win-win-win

Truth be told, my 45th birthday turned out to be far from exciting by conventional standards—just hanging out with the family, mainly (minus Zach for much of the day, since he sold me out and attended what I perceived to be a junior chick flick, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, with his buddy Ben), with some shopping and errands tossed in for good measure. Still, I can't complain. Compared to what has traditionally been a routine of rain and rhinoviruses, this year's agenda was infinitely better.

With clear sinuses to complement my shorts and flip flops, my day played out something like this:

• The weather was gorgeous, with brilliant, blue skies and highs around 90—and not a hint of wet stuff (which mercifully held off until later in the week, when it's forecast to fall for seven straight days!).


• The colds of those afflicted (Zoë, Zienna, and to a lesser degree, Kelly and Zach) seemed to subside, and my symptoms played their hands and proved to be nothing more than allergies—meaning I was cold-free for a change on my birthday.


• I got to spend my birthday with those gorgeous kiddos in the photo, along with my gorgeous wife who shot it. And we had takeout Japanese food for dinner from my favorite local place, which included some extra goodies—yummy potato croquettes—as a gratis birthday extra.


• An online acquaintance who read Friday's blog entry posted a birthday greeting to me on a message board we frequent, and the resulting wishes that came in from all over the world were pretty neat.


• Oh, and finally, after more than 15 years of wishing for it, I got the entire 20-CD Rhino Records seventies soul collection, "Didn't It Blow Your Mind"—at a bargain price, off eBay. There's so much good music and by association, memories, on those disks, it will take me quite a while to digest it all. But I'll be loving every minute of it, I can assure you of that.

If there was a downside to the day—a minor one—it was discovering that the World Series game I'd DVRed so I could watch it in peace once the kids were tucked into their beds cut off early when the game ran long. But by that point, I was ready to turn in myself, and a quick check of ESPN's Baseball Tonight told me I'd not missed much, as the Phillies had drubbed the Rays 10-2.

I'll admit that spending the day lounging on the beach in Hawaii would have been lovely, as would have getting out of town, period—like the trip to San Francisco I'd originally planned but canceled, due to cost. Dining in a fancy restaurant—or even a not-so-fancy one—could have been relaxing, too, but then there'd have been the check to pay afterward, accompanied by buyer's remorse over an overpriced meal.

So, in light of the economy, the war, the divisive election campaign, and everything else going wrong in the world—and the price tag of anything more elaborate—my birthday wasn't all that bad. As I said last week, I'm coming to realize that overall, simple pleasures are the best. And perhaps best of all, they don't have that morning-after "Oh my gosh, would you look at that receipt!" effect. In my mind, that's a gift in itself.