“Few women admit their age. Few men act theirs.”

OK, I told Blackbird I wasn't going to blog about it being my birthday.
I find I lied.

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I AM: 36 today, the mother of three, the wife to one, a librarian, a reader, a runner, a writer of blogs
I WANT: books, always more books. And to learn to rock climb.
I WISH: I was more patient. And thinner.
I HATE: myself sometimes.
I LOVE: my boys to distraction.
I MISS: my mom and dad.
I FEAR: my children dying. And spiders.
I HEAR: the circ clerk barking at patrons
I WONDER: when it became acceptable to be loud in a library
I REGRET: not putting out for my high school boyfriend
I AM NOT: patient or kind or especially affectionate
I DANCE: with abandon
I SING: badly
I CRY: when I am mad, which makes me madder
I AM NOT ALWAYS: nice
I MAKE WITH MY HANDS: baked goods and quilts
I WRITE: the blog. Every day if possible.
I CONFUSE: irony and sarcasm
I NEED: my lip waxed. And a slip.
I SHOULD: go pump. My therapist tells me I worry too much about the “shoulds.”
I START: many household projects and many books
I FINISH: most of the household projects eventually, about half the books, and a pint of Ben and Jerry’s Chubby Hubby ice cream waaaay too often
I TAG: whoever’s interested

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This seemed like a good day to fill in this meme.
As Gina pointed out, it’s my birthday.
It’s also Patriot’s Day.
You know –

Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere.
On the eighteenth of April in seventy-five
Hardly a man is now alive,
Who remembers that famous day and year…
One if by land, and two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm…

After church on Sunday, the deacon stopped to say Happy Birthday to me, and asked which day exactly.
I replied, “The eighteenth, you know: on the 18th of April in ’75…”
H snorted.
I said snarkily, “I didn’t say *I* was born in 75. [1775, no less!] I am happy to admit I was born in 1970. I’m talking about Paul Revere.”
What can I say, he was a math major.
Liberal-arts-challenged.

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You know you are getting old when your idea of indulging yourself on your birthday includes going for a run at 630 am.

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Celebrities and other personages of interest (mine) who share MY birthday – yes, it’s all about ME, especially today:

• Hayley Mills
  
• Lucretia Borgia
  
• Clarence Darrow
  
• Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown
  
• Francois Leroux
  
• Haile Gebrselassie
  
• Frances Bean Cobain

And in keeping with my oh-so-cheerful and optimistic personality, deaths which occurred on April 18:

• John Foxe, of Foxe’s Book of Martyrs (I think it was a natural death), 1587
• Albert Einstein, 1955

Events that occurred on this estimable day:

• Wilkes' expedition to South Pole sails, 1838
  
• San Francisco Earthquake kills over 700 people, 1906
  
• Poland annexes Central Lithuania, 1923
  
• 74,000 on hand for opening of Yankee Stadium, 1923 (for Peg)
  
• Bombing of Tokyo, 1942
  
• 1st "Walk"/"Don't Walk" lighted street signals installed, 1955
  
• 12th Boston Women's Marathon won by Joan Benoit Samuelson in 2:22:43, 1983

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H *is* taking me out for dinner tonight, at a restaurant to which someone gave us a gift certificate, upon the birth of Terzo. Because parents of newborns get to go out a whole bunch, you know. At least it will come in handy now.