I'm on the Road to Shambala

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I am almost 41 and a half. Half birthdays are not just for kids anymore.



I celebrated my 41st birthday on 3/19/09. I tried to find a number 41 reference to tie into this entry but came up empty-handed until my husband said, "Ben-Hur was number 41!"



And I thought, there ya go. I'm number 41. My shout-out to Charlton Heston. My day started out meeting my daughter's then third-grade teacher. She had a glowing report on Holly's progress.



Then we came home and I announced, "Let's go to the beach!" We packed up a lunch and towels and I burned a CD for the drive out there. I call it "On the Road to Shambala." I employed the use of my genius playlist on iTunes to pick songs similar to Three Dog Night's "Shambala."



I'm not sure who or what Shambala is and I don't really care. It was a song I heard when I was 5 years old and at that age all you care to do is dance and sing along. "Shambala" was used last year in an episode of Lost that symbolized Hurley achieving a goal through fixing a Volkswagen bus. So as far as I'm concerned, Shambala is about getting things done.





Coming home from the beach is when the party started. I read Carrie Fisher's Wishful Drinking in peaceful solitude while my daughters decorated the kitchen with toilet paper as streamers. They wrote "Happy Birthday" all over them. They set out ice cubes made of Coke Zero (my lifeblood) and Jello pudding cups. Then they cut squares of sandwich bread with icing and lemon drops. THAT was a culinary delight.



Finally, they drew pictures of me enjoying my treats and wrote, "41 - not old yet!" Definitely. I love being number 41. And a half.

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• Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher (janawillworkforbooks.blogspot.com)