My strange birthday

Everything about my birthday was strange
cartoon by Bill Pyne

My birthday was back in early April.  I remembered what happened that day, especially the afternoon and evening, because it was difficult and intense. 

But I completely forgot that in the morning I had written about my early morning. I just found that story now. And what interests me is the dream I had before I woke up.

I was driving a car, it was an automatic.

I had never driven an automatic before. My truck is the clutch. It all seemed so easy, I didn’t have to do any work.  It seemed to drive itself.  And it went fast too.

Sure my birthday turned out to be hell for me and the next two days too.  

But I now think it was the final step in the huge transition which had began in January.  Because after I was back on my feet again, my life did change so much for the better.  It did seem so easy, I didn’t have to do any work, it does seem to drive itself, and it goes fast too. 

Here is the story I wrote on my birthday

Wednesday April 3^rd  

A lousy birthday

Something weird is going on.  I don’t know what it is because it is not something which has happened before.

 First of all I slept too much last night. Who falls asleep at 8 pm and sleeps all the way to morning! 

Usually when I’ve had a long nap in the afternoon if I fall asleep at 8 pm, I am up for few hours in middle of the night.

The other thing is my dreams were different. I don’t remember how or why. They just were. I only remember one of them now. I was driving a car, it was an automatic.

I had never driven an automatic before. My truck is the clutch. It all seemed so easy, I didn’t have to do any work. It seemed to drive itself. And it went fast too.

The other odd thing is I seem to have twisted my foot while I slept. Who twists their foot while they sleep!  But this morning I am hobbling.

Yesterday was such a gloriously happy day, the last thing I expected was to wake up this morning and wonder how am I going to get around if I can only hobble.

I was so dismayed.

To lift my spirits I thought “tomorrow is my birthday why don’t I see if Baik Baik (my favorite designer) has pretty new skirts for spring.”

So I went back into the house (I had been lying in sunshine in backyard) and looked on her website.

There were 3 I liked of her new spring skirts, and one on sale from last year.

I knew no one would be in the office in Honolulu so I left the message on the machine.

“It’s my birthday” I said. “For my birthday present to myself I want to buy your pretty new skirts. Can you call me back when it is convenient for you. Love Annie in Tucson.”

When I got off the phone I was thrilled. I knew it came to $300 altogether but I decided to throw money to the wind. Never in my whole life did I throw money to the wind.  Never in my whole life did I expect to.

But I thought, It is an emergency. I  didn’t want to be so unhappy on my birthday.  I wanted to be lifted up, and buying myself the pretty new skirts did even more than that. 

It reversed the funk I was falling into and made life wonderful.  I was getting such fabulous birthday presents.

And I hobbled back to my comforter on the ground in the sunshine. And thought “what a strange morning, maybe it means something wonderful is coming into my life.”

A brand new optimism opened up before me.

Post script few days later 

I completely forgot that I thought my life was going to change for the better because for the rest of that day and the next two days it changed so much for the worse!

Whatever booboo started up in my foot while I slept increased so much that by the evening I couldn’t walk on it. 

I spent the afternoon and evening on the cot in the tool room again while the cooler technician set up my coolers for the summer.

He was an angel to me.

Both he and his boss when his boss came over to help him were angels.

I tried to get up when his boss came over but nearly fell over.

By 9 pm the discomfort had been so relentless for two hours, I called up Jim. “My ibuprofen is in my back bedroom but I can’t walk there to get it. Will you come over to bring it to me?”

Jim was already in bed. “Let me get dressed I’ll be right over.”

He brought me my ibuprofen and an iced cold 7 Up from the frig.

And petted and loved Priscilla who was lying on the dresser next to me.

Jim saved me. It wasn’t only the ibuprofen and soda.  He broke the spell of the worry that I had fallen into.  The discomfort itself was barely noticeable, it just worried me so much that I could not walk. 

I had to break out of that gloom. And Jim’s arrival and help did all that for me.

From the moment he walked in the door I switched gears and relaxed. And when he left I thought “well maybe it will all be OK.”