Happy birthday to me and Happy birthday, U.S.A. 

Company is slowly drifting in to help me celebrate my birthday, and it is always great fun to have some of my kids here with me.

I know it is a day early for a Fourth Of July blog post, but bear with me. I plan to take the rest of this week off, so I had to get the post ready today.

Over the years, the birthday bash has ebbed and flowed, sometimes everyone is able to come to Grandma’s Ranch, and other years just a few. Good thing I have lots of kids. (smile) We eat good food, share good company, and often the day ends with our own fireworks show.

I’ve thought a lot about aging this past year. Mainly because my body keeps giving me vivid reminders of just how old I am, and that nasty Ramsay Hunt has kicked my butt big time. The meds I take to keep the nerve pain under some kind of control, have played havoc with my general strength and stamina, and I have lost a lot this past year and a half.

As I move past another birthday, I’m fighting the image of myself as the little old lady who pauses in the grocery store aisle to look at something, leaving a cart right in the middle. Someone much younger waits patiently for the little old lady to make up her mind and continue on.

I don’t want to be that old lady.

I’d rather be like the one I see outside, working on her property when I drive to town. Often, she is pulling weeds, bent over at the waist, and there are several bags indicating she has been doing that for an hour or more. Other days I drive by and she’s on her riding mower, making her 2 acre front look like a putting green.

My paternal grandmother was a lot like that neighbor. She tended a huge garden on the hill behind her house until she was in her early 90s, and only stopped because a broken hip forced the issue.

When my husband and I first moved here to East Texas in 2002, I thought I would be like my grandmother. I was strong. I was willing. And I loved working on Grandma’s Ranch. I still love it. And my mind is strong and willing, but I don’t know how much longer I will be able to keep up.

But I will try. One day and one step at a time.

And now, before I take the rest of the week off, I want to let you know that to celebrate my birthday, I am gifting readers with a FREE copy of One Perfect Love, the sequel to One Small Victory. The book will be free for 5 days, starting on my birthday tomorrow so grab a copy if you don’t already have one. In return, I ask that you leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads. Those reviews help authors more than you might realize.

If you are celebrating the Fourth Of July, I do hope you have a wonderful gathering with family and friends. Be safe and be happy.