My time in Opposite World

So I, the Philosopher, recently celebrated my birthday. 

Remember when you were school age and you and your friends would declare "today is opposite day!" and everything was opposite.  So, for example, instead of telling your friends that you liked them, you said you hated them but everyone understood it was all okay because it was opposite day.

Well my birthday was its own opposite day.

44, 4 & 4.  How old I am.  If I could put the two fours back to back that is exactly how I felt during this birthday.

Example 1)
Day started out sunny and beautiful with me driving in the convertible with the top down and the wind blowing through my hair.  Smiling.  I knew the weather was predicted to be rainy and cold later so I was enjoying the spring weather while it lasted.  And the forecasters were right, it quickly progressed to a gray, raining, and cold day.  Top was going to be staying up for several days. 

Example 2)
I received birthday wishes from friends near and far including a sweet birthday wish from my Fox that made me smile deep down inside my heart.  But I received nothing from my children.

Example 3)
I received a letter in the mail from the high school that my son is supposed to attend in the fall and has been dreaming of attending for over three years now that they will be offering no financial aid to us.  "Ugh!" I thought, more appeal letters to write.  At least I've gotten good experience writing those letters during the college hunt for my daughter.

After reading the letter though, my daughter called to say she has gotten a job for the summer!  Great  news there!

Example 4)
Planned birthday celebrations were also total opposites.  First one was intended to be karaoke and drinks with several of my best girlfriends.  And although Karaoke guy didn't work that night, my best girlfriends & I still had a great time.  The mix of personalities couldn't have been more perfect.  The conversation was clever, witty, sincere and the drinks were too.

Second planned birthday celebration was to be at one of my favorite local bars where the drinks are amazing and the bands fun to dance to and the people watching fantastic.  It is where I met my Fox so this bar has a very special place in my heart.  And I had planned to dance tango with my dance partner too.  Well the only thing that was consistent was the tango and the drinks.  First, a man who has been stalking me since Thanksgiving showed up and completely inserted himself awkwardly and annoyingly into the mix.  It was not a good combination of personalities.  The conversations were stilted and awkward and were full of passive aggressive undertones that I escaped to dance tango as much as possible.  And my escape to dance tango was the perfect excuse for my girlfriend whom I was supposed to be celebrating with to leave me.  Yep, alone. On my birthday.  And to blame me for being selfish for dancing tango.    However she was not pretending it was opposite day; she was being sincere in her accusations.  I told her to drive home safely; because at 44, I don't engage in high school behavior. 

However even with all the weird yin & yang, Libran-like (keeping things balanced - not all bad and not all great) experiences, I'm still grateful and thankful to be alive and surrounded by terrific people.  This is a new week.  New experiences to enjoy, new lessons to learn and more tangos to dance and I'm definitely okay with that.