She bought me socks.

Yesterday I turned 39 years old. Not quite 40. And not quite 25 either.
39 is in fact "just a number" but why then is it that this one feels like it is looming over me like some sort of consequence or sentence?
The old grey mare - she ain't what she used to be....and neither is Kirby. Both my ego and my body bruise easy. At least, easier than they used to. Rest and recovery become a month long hiatus after my back goes left when my mind goes right. The closet door that hides our medicine cabinet may need to be replaced soon. Daily visits to the Pez Dispenser that feeds me Advil have worn the hinges out.
Michele has encouraged me to stop watching TV and ride bike more. I enjoy that and it's easy on my joints if not hard on my bum.  Money and the absence of it has changed some of my typical summer plans that have included Ontario & fishing but I've come to grips with that a little better now. There's fish in the lake outside my door and the time that I've spent with Emma and Logan lately cannot be matched.
Oh, I'm not so much as depressed. I'm just stuck worrying about things that have to happen next week or next month. I wish life was full of vacations, scratch offs and tater tot hotdish. But it's not.
Life requires work. Life requires schedules and swimming lessons. Life requires volunteerism and more meetings. The laundry isn't going to wash itself and the grass just keeps growing.
And now I'm 39.
Maybe for my next birthday I can go to Chuck E Cheese or ValleyFair... I think I'll look forward to doing something really childish this time next year.
Not this year though. Yesterday I put in another "day in the mine." A cold, wet and gloomy shift at the pool. I couldn't even follow that up with big dinner plans with the family because my Hockey Dad duties called and I shuffled off to another meeting...

But not before I got to spend a few hours with the 3 most important people in my world.
Earlier I said some junk about life not being full of Tater Tot Hotdish... That may be true but supper last night sure was full of it. A double dose of hamburger and tots, heavily covered in cheese. Our usual dinner table conversation was shortened and sometimes muffled because everyone was going back for second and third helpings. The kids skimmed their drinks right from the drinks their mother and I poured and that made me smile. Logan drank my lemonade and Emma drank Michele's Pepsi. With the dogs underfoot, we visited, laughed and ate in our messy dining room. Hockey bags, skates, laundry baskets all evidence that our house is lived in. Just the way we like it!
For a moment I was left alone while the kids and my wife disappeared into the other room. They came back with a cake, a candle and song. My heart began to melt.
You see, at times I've been guilty of moping around a little this summer... I know we're in a transition time in our family and things aren't right where we thought they'd be but then something like my birthday rolls around and reminds me just how happy I really am.

I got Ranch Flavored Corn Nuts for a gift. You know me all too well. I got a Heath Candy bar...I don't eat a lot of candy but man do I like Heath bars! For my birthday, I got a bag of Dill Pickle  sunflower seeds - perfect for tonight when I get to watch Logan play ball and tomorrow for Emma's game! I got a giant bag of Swedish Fish - because a when I lied about not eating very much candy, I had forgotten for a moment about my addiction to Swedish Fish.
And then there were socks.
I got a package of tall, black socks.
I am so completely happy with my wife and everything that she does for me. The list is long and not the least thing among them but just added to one of many thousands of things that she tirelessly does for me is.....she keeps me in socks.
I cannot remember the last time that I purchased a pair of socks of any kind. I would have to go back a decade or more to the last time that I needed to think about underclothes for my feet. That's how much she loves me.
Michele knows more than just my obvious interests in hunting or fishing. She knows all my favorite snacks. She knows my favorite restaurants and music...she looks out for me more than I do for myself. I'm so lucky that I have her to love me like she does.

I'm 39 - I guess it's time for me to grow up but at least I won't have to buy socks for a while.