Hey Folks,
Didn’t realize it had been so long since my last update but work got crazy, I got COVID and my plans were pushed back. The milestone birthday has been celebrated though. I went to Amsterdam on the 2nd and got back Friday so I was there during the snow, complete with a fall on my butt during my cinnamon roll hunt. No falls after that so happy for me. I went to the museum, strolled through the city, went to a movie, took the metro for the first time, ate a lot of good food, took more bubble baths than the law should allow, drank really good sparkling wine, was nude a lot and briefly saw my sun. I also walked around a ton and may have lost weight on the trip so yeah for me. Saturday steps were limited to the grocery run but today I drug out the treadmill so I could at least do a mile. I ended up closer to 1.5 miles which on top of my cooking and dancing got me to two miles for the day. It was manageable and I will try to keep doing it. I also need to stretch more and will consider booting up the yoga option on my studio setup. Dragging out the treadmill was the worst part of the experience. I had to get used to moving on something again that wasn’t a sidewalk because legit walking through Amsterdam is just easy for me. It’s pretty and I’m happy. But also I broke up the walking and had to work on my balance–I need to do that in general I think I’m getting sloppy with my walking. I contemplated ending the post here but this is about the countdown not just my last foray into Amsterdam.
This all started mid 2024 when I came back from a work trip and realized I had spent nearly all of my birthdays at home with relatively low key or no key celebrations. Since a girl only turns 105 once I wanted to spend 104 elsewhere and then spend the next year saying yes to at least 105 things. I’m not sure if I made that cut off but I saw six concerts, caught flights to at least five of them, took in four Broadway shows and caught flights to those, at well, drank well, met cool people, took upgrades when I could get them, and spent two birthdays or birthday adjacent time in my favorite city, got to see snow for the second trip and didn’t even have snow at home for my birthday. I figured out that folks loved me and loved on me and wanted me to be happy. I got to take photos that everyone seems to really like that has seem them and I won awards and funding and opportunities because in general I am a bad bitch. It was a year to be sure and it has fed on itself. There will be more trips and more things and I’m hear for all of it. I also discovered or rediscovered that as complex as I can be my base needs are not that dramatic and my heart is able to multitask in ways my much younger self could not even envision. This year reminded me to do less whenever possible. Not because folks wouldn’t appreciate more but because more isn’t always required. I could show up for me as much as I show up for everyone else and that loving on me looked different at 105 than it did at 95. Being healthier, being deliberate, being happy on purpose. These are all choices I get to make. And I’m opting in for that experience indefinitely. Probably not at the level I did this year but it will be done.
So I hope you are all doing well. I just made sure I didn’t have COVID before I went into the office for the day. I’m clear lol. But if I wasn’t, I’d just be alerting folks and taking a nap. If you wanna see photos, they are on my Fetlife profile–some are restricted to friends only and if you are that nosy you gonna have to ask. Love on yourselves so that you aren’t confused when someone else doesn’t do it well.