52: An Introduction

And so it came to pass that 52 began with an empty gas tank. I pulled the Old Jeep out of our driveway and it immediately shut down on me. The warning light essentially told me to check the other warning lights, but I knew what was happening, which was this: the low gas light that had been shining for me the evening before had not been kidding.

In the pantheon of problems that could greet a new trip around the sun, running out of gas wasn’t that big a deal. After all, it happened right in front of our house, within walking distance of a gas station, and a hardware store, which is where I wound up buying a new empty gas can, once I discovered that the gas station did not sell empty gas cans.

An empty gas tank is kind of like a blank slate. I am in favor of starting a birthday with a  blank slate, so my quest to fill the gas tank fit my need for a symbolic birthday morning moment wrapped up in a wacky misadventure story.

Once the tank was filled, my birthday was a pure delight. I drove the Old Jeep to work, where my lovely co-workers greeted me with a Twin Peaks-themed celebration, complete with homemade cherry pie, coffee, a Funko Special Agent Dale Cooper and even a Twin Peaks birthday card. So thanks to Cicely, Maryann, Chris, Dan, and Nate for that!

As it happens, this was one of those occasional years when our organization’s staff appreciation day falls on my birthday, so I spent the better part of the day playing bingo, eating ice cream, watching other people play volleyball, and socializing with my co-workers.

Later, after the workday was over, Donna, the boys and I headed out to the All Star Sports Bar and Restaurant in Gilbertsville, where we ate and listened to my friend Michael play and sing many cool tunes. It was great to have all four of us together to celebrate one of our birthdays and it was wonderful to see Michael and Teri and Marley as well. The perfect end to a cool birthday.

And so it is that I am welcoming 52 with open arms. Why the hell not, right? I could resist, but that just seems silly.

I had a moment of clarity this week in which I realized that I was going to turn 52 and that there are 52 weeks in a year. That has given me the impetus to launch a series of weekly blog entries here, called “52 at 52.” The idea is that I’ll attempt to write some actual pen-to-paper journal entries during the week and, once a week, I’ll collate some of the thoughts contained within those entries into a somewhat coherent column. As the years pass, I seem to return to the idea that having a weekly newspaper column would be a bucket list entry of mine, so I might as well just do it right here, you know what I’m saying? I think you do.

I am not sure what I’ll have to say on a weekly basis, but something will come to me. It usually does. I’ll try to keep TrumpTalk to a minimum, though I won’t make any promises.

Thanks to everyone who made my transition to 52 just swell. Stay tuned.