74

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My birthday has come and gone. I’m grateful that I don’t feel a day older, but maybe tomorrow I will. We began the day with a brisk walk, the brisk referring more to the temperature than the pace. Make no mistake, John can do brisk. He grew up walking in Manhattan where dawdlers do not fare well. We thought of going out to breakfast, but we needed to plan ahead so that we could finish before it was time for David to go to work. It didn’t bother me a bit to cook breakfast on my birthday. I chose my favorite – Egg MacMehrling. It was a takeoff on McDonald’s Egg McMuffin. It was the tailoring that took the time. I had sausage, while the fellows had bacon. David likes limp bacon; John prefers crisp. Their eggs were cooked in the microwave, long enough that they would have bounced if dropped on the floor. Cheddar topped their sandwiches. I had an egg over easy with pepper jack cheese. English muffins were toasted three ways – warmed for David, lightly toasted for John, and browned for me. It’s a wonder we could sit and eat at the same time.

Before we went out to dinner, the guys ducked in two supermarkets looking for the perfect chocolate cake. They succeeded. My first choice, a restaurant in Waynesville, was crowded at 7. We assumed Southerners ate early, but they didn’t when we wanted to eat late. There was another eatery I would have liked, but I couldn’t remember the name of it. We ended up at Clyde’s, a diner-type place near Walmart that we had not tried before. The food was good, though not exciting. It didn’t matter, because I knew there was chocolate fudge cake out in the car. In a way, that pressure was good, because I brought half my dinner home in a box. Did I save enough calories for that decadent cake? Of course not, but it was my birthday.

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Happy birthday to me!

Breakfast the following day was like a relative once removed. I don’t know exactly what that means in relations, but it means breakfast was moved to the next day. We headed for the Buttered Biscuit, having heard that this breakfast/lunch place was excellent. I had looked at the menu on the computer and had my mouth set for sausage and eggs with a strawberry waffle. We got there and found the windows covered in foil with a repair truck sitting before the front door. Golly! I hadn’t expected that. Thinking quickly, we asked David if it would work for us to eat at Burger King. If he hadn’t wanted to eat in his workplace, we would have thought of something else. He gave it a thumbs up. We all chose the same thing, a very large egg, bacon, sausage, and cheese sandwich. A worker on her break raised her eyebrows when she saw David, and he explained that we were his grandparents. We sat at the table next to her and chatted with her. What a hard-working young lady she was! She quit for the summer to take care of her 10 and 7-year-old brother and sister while their parents worked. With the younger ones in school again, her mother drops her off at Burger King and goes across the street to work at Ingles. I’m not clear how the young woman gets home, but she oversees the children’s homework and cooks dinner for the family. I think we had a rare peek at a family bravely struggling to make ends meet.

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A few minutes later David was working behind the counter.  Yes, David’s height is in his neck.

Published by Anne Mehrling

I'm a retiree who loves to write about life in the mountains of North Carolina.

Published

32 thoughts on “74”

  1. Anne
    Happy birthday to you and you are lucky to have your birthday very near Christmas- no one would ever forget it, I think.
    You look beautiful and radiant – if that is what 74 does to a person, I would want to be there. I think the daily, brisk walks are helping to keep you trim and fit too.
    I would have loved a piece of that Chocolate fudge cake but unfortunately I can’t because I can’t eat fatty stuff especially not such decadent stuff(high cholesterol).
    I was touched by the girl’s story you shared here. The poor child- do you think she completed school or did she drop out – so much of burden on such young shoulders. But God gives people only as much trouble as he thinks they can take, isn’t that true ?
    Susie

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    1. You are right Susie, no one ever forgets my birthday, and I don’t talk about it ahead of time. That photo is deceiving. I told David where to stand and how close to get. It is very flattering. I might not have posted it, otherwise. The real me is lurking here in front of the computer where you can’t see me.

      I was impressed that the young lady at Burger King did not complain at all. Her life couldn’t be all that easy, but she talked about things with good humor. Her dad works at night, and that’s why he can’t look after the younger siblings. I hope the girl has graduated from high school, but I wouldn’t ask.

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  2. Happy Birthday dear Anne! You look radiant!! And not a day over, say, 51! Now toss me a piece of that incredible-looking chocolate cake, would you? My fave, how did you know?! 🙂 xox

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    1. You deserve the whole cake for taking more than 20 years off my life. The cake is half gone right now and will be history in a few hours. When we come to Montreal, we’ll have some chocolate cake. How is that? We don’t have current passports, so it’s not likely to happen any time soon.

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    1. Wish you had been here to share the fun, Faye. I should mention that our eggy breakfast was made with fresh eggs from neighbors Shawn and Bob. They are incredibly generous. When we were keeping Logan while Shawn was having a knee replaced, we couldn’t get one of their chickens back inside. Scattered feathers the next day told the story. Do you ever lose any of your girls to marauders?

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      1. I have lost chickens to hawks, possums and neighbor dogs. They are pretty good about going into their coop every night and then I shut the door so nothing can get them.
        Last winter the hugest possum my husband had ever seen got in the coop before I got home from helping at our local food pantry. He had killed one and injured several. It took over a week for one of the girls to venture out of the metal scrap pile where she had taken refuge.
        There was some justice, however. My husband shot the possum and the girls actually ate him!

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  5. Happy Birthday Anne! You have a way of finding the joy no matter how the original plans fare. With a nice chocolate cake ending and the right people, any meal is good. I laughed at how you “make breakfast to order.” You are so kind. Have a wonderful year.

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  6. Happy happy birthday!! I love that you were still celebrating the next day. I think we may share taste buds for your egg MacMehrling (minus the cheese of course, cheese does not care for me)! What a blessed time to have a birthday!

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    1. You don’t know how rare it is to stretch out my birthday for two days. I have one daughter who makes much of celebrating birthday MONTH. Fat chance that would happen at the lower end of December! I have treasured today as extension one. Extension two on Christmas Eve? No way. Even I don’t have time for that!

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  10. Happy belated birthday, Anne. Sorry. I just read this now. You look absolutely lovely! May God bless you with many more healthy years to come, surrounded by your loved ones. xo Blessings on you. 🙂

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      1. I am sure you are just as loved and celebrated as any other, though. Lots of hugs to you, and once more I wish you a very Merry Christmas. Bless you. xo

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  11. Happy Happy birthday! Age is relative – your smile says “timeless”
    Waiting for sunset on Christmas Eve is like standing toes-over-the-edge on a high diving board.
    Every year we’d cruise casually by the window to keep an eye on the sun’s progress until it was officially evening.
    Then the shout “Christmas Eve Gift!” would ring out.
    You see, the traditions says that the first person to voice that phrase on Christmas Eve to another would be graced with good fortune and joy all the next year.
    (And of course, whomever was first won. Everything was a contest…)
    It’s more difficult to be first now with caller ID.
    As all those who have become my friends in blogland are spread widely across time zones, I’d like to wish you all “Christmas Eve Gift” now.
    And as I already feel so fortunate to have such wonderful readers and writers in this neighborhood, I wish to share any phrase acquired good fortune and joy with you in thanks.
    No matter where you are or what you are guided by, hope you have a very merry Christmas and a new year full of adventure and joy.
    Peace on earth and goodwill towards all creatures great and small.

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  12. “Christmas Eve Gift” is a fun tradition. Thanks for sharing it. I love my blogging friends all over the world, too. What a joy it is to communicate so freely! Merry Christmas to you!

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