PlazaJen: Passion Knit

Gosh, I sleep in & everyone's wishing me a Happy Birthday - it feels FABULOUS! :) Thanks, blogworld & friends!

Last night, we saw Cake & Weezer - I could become a Cake groupie if I weren't so old - we laughed at the four 13-year-old girls in front of us, waving their phones instead of lighters, and then stopping to text message, and indeed, dear world, technology has changed the world. The sweet flicker of a lighter, held up until the holder's thumb burns, has been replaced by the blue screen of a cell phone. Those girls were so damned funny, and I had great fun watching them, because they weren't mean girls or fake girls, they were just goofy girls who'd spent a LOT of time getting ready for this concert, with their hair and makeup and outfits, and so they would sway together and slam hips and eat pretzels and giggle and gasp, and while I appreciated their youth and their beautiful skin, untouched by a single wrinkle, I did not envy their next ten years, when every single thing MEANS so much and you are still amassing your wisdom and your footing is so uncertain.

The flip side of being old & wise is that your bladder gnomes become MUCH more vocal, shouting and ringing the buzzer almost non-stop. And also, not being a drunken 22-year-old, one avoids the portalettes as much as humanly possible. So, true to old-folks form, we left before the end of Weezer, got out of the parking lot with no trouble at all, and zipped home to the comforts therein.

The last observation about the four girls: they were chaperoned by one of the girl's dad. He was so cool, and let them be - gave 'em money for pretzels and didn't tell them to knock it off when they were almost knocking each other down with their sideways-hip-slams. But he sat at the end, with them, unlike the man in the parking lot, asleep in his truck. And I admired that dad's dedication to being a grown-up father.

Being a grown-up, no matter what your responsibilities are, isn't easy, and youth is, indeed, wasted on the young, but I am glad to be alive, and I'm glad to be wiser now than I was back then, and I treasure all the wonderful people I have in my life, some of whom are more like family to me than blood relatives. It is a short trip on this earth, and my journey is better for having you in it.

Thank you, from the bottom of my Cake-lovin' heart.