50 - 1 ... Do the Math

Today I am 49, one year short of 50 and I am way okay with it. Happy, Happy birthday to me!!
To some getting older is depressing, but I think I am aging well (thank's to my natural Botox... fat)

I do have crows feet, but I consider those wisdom lines. I also have big ole' laugh lines, but I celebrate those because it means I have found joy in life and have smiled and laughed a lot. My double chin shows that we have always had plenty, for which I am grateful. In the next 50 years I will have grandchildren and great grandchildren, that's a huge bonus for aging!

No, getting closer to 50 is really wonderful, I am excited for the adventure.

I thought I would do a post on 49 wonderful things about me, or 49 things you don't know about me, or 49 of my dreams...to be honest, I couldn't think of 49 of any of those~I can't do one with pictures from each year because this is the one and only picture of me as a child. SO... I am celebrating finishing out the first 1/2 century of my life with a nostalgic look at what happened in the world my first 49 years.

People I share a birthday with...
Robert DeNiro
Mae West
Sean Penn
Davy Crockett
Julie Schindler---my sister friend
Denae (D-Dawg) Harlow

In the past 49 years....

Prices have gone up a bit

America landed a man on the moon
Racial Desegregation in the schools

Color TV
The median family income in 1959 was $5,400, now it is $64,000.
A gallon of gas in 1977 (when I got my first car) was $.88
Woodstock
Vietnam
The Cold War
The Berlin Wall falls, November 9, 1989
Summer of Love, the Beatles, Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, The Who, The Clash, Jay-Z
Birth control pills
The first heart transplant
Betamax and VHS and now, DVD's
Apple computers, PC's
The Internet (thank you Al Gore)
Watergate
Vietnam
West Point admits women, 1976
Three Mile Island Nuclear disaster, Chernobyl
Monday Night Football, ESPN, HBO
First black fashion model on Vogue Magazine's cover, 1974
Walkman, now I-Pod
Cellular telephones
Satellite and Digital TV
Seven Prophets
Pac-Man ignites the video game craze, Nintendo, Wii, X-Box to follow
Prince Charles & Lady Diana Wed, so do Luke and Laura and Byron and Jeni
The Equal Rights Amendment
Roe vs Wade

Bell Bottoms, Dittos, mini, midi, maxi dresses, Spandex, platform shoes, daisy dukes
Flashdance, Grease, The Graduate, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, American Graffitti,
AIDS
Cabbage Patch Dolls, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, My little Pony

Drugs, once taboo, become fashionable
Valium, Prozac and Effexor (the happy little pills for women)
Cassette tapes, 8-track tapes, CD's and now, i-Tunes
The Human Genome project
The Soviet Union, once the largest country, splits apart into over 30 separate countries.
Sandra Day O'Connor becomes the first woman Supreme Court Justice
Priesthood blessings extended to all worthy men
I love Lucy, M*A*S*H, Miami Vice, Dallas, Cheers, Friends, Oprah
Dolly the sheep, the first successful cloning
The Impeachment of President Clinton
9/11, the attack on the Trade Towers, an attack on America
Red Sox FINALLY win a World Series
MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Blogger explosion
On Line Shopping, World Wide Web
First black Presidential nominee

What a spectacular time to be alive and to see the changes in the world and in the culture of the world! I'm excited for my 50th year celebration...kind of like Disneyland's, it's going to last all year.

I hope Byron got the fireworks ordered.