IT'S MY 72nd BIRTHDAY

I never imagined that I would have so many birthdays as so many people in my family died young. (As the saying goes, "If I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself.")

The birthday I remember best was my birthday with the slogan- "I'll be 21 on the 21st." That was back when turning 21 meant something. That was when the age to vote was 21. I didn't worry about it also being the age to drink legally because I was in college in Illinois and girls could drink at 18, although their dates couldn't. Who thought that one up?

On one birthday a few years ago, I found a gravy stirrer in my favorite thrift shop that I had been searching for for years. I haven't seen another similar one since then.

This morning, going in to the college computer lab to help the students, a student stopped me to say hello and told me that I was a great teacher and that I had really helped her last year. I would call that a pretty special birthday present.