On Turning 55

Thanks all of you for your birthday wishes. It was a really nice day; lots of rememberances, little gifts, etc from my friends and co-workers. Camerson sent me some beautiful flowers ... and gets extra credit as he sent them to work and allowed me to show him off!!! (He also bought me a new phone and added me to his cell phone bill .... meaning he'll be paying my bill for the next couple of years... It was hysterical ... role reversal... "no texting, no downloading, i'll be checking the bill")

BUT ... I've discovered that if you MUST turn 55, you definitely should spend it with a group of thirty year olds.

After work Cameron had arranged a little drinks thing with some of my friends so that was nice. Then after that ended, he and 5 of the Prineville hotshots took me out to dinner to the nicest steak house in town. They all got cleaned and dressed up --- I'm used to them in nomex and yellow shirts --- and we had the best dinner ever. Lots of appetizers and shrimp coctails and roasted potatoes and red meat and bottles and bottles of wine.

Here's the funny part: they all play this game after a big meal called Card in the Hat. They all put their credit cards in a baseball cap, allow the waitress to pick one and that person pays the full bill. Luckily birthday girl didn't have to participate; our good friend Garet won the honor of paying over $400 for dinner.

If that kind of laughter and enthusiasm can be recaught at 55 -- even for the moment -- then I'm all for it.