Best Birthday Ever

Today I turned 68 years old. Aside from the kick I always get to see around 200 Facebook friends from all my Venn diagrams (Firesign, comics, Rutgers frat, online gaming) wishing me a happy birthday, as well as my work colleagues who gave me two desserts I should definitely NOT eat as well as treating me to a group lunch order eaten in our fancy dining area, I got the best gift of all, a birthday call from Mom. My brother held the phone as she coherently spoke. For someone I'd been convinced was at death's door a few days ago, this was near miraculous. I'm now told she's due to be released back to her long-term care facility on Friday, the infection and sepsis are all gone, and the only stumbling block remains her food intake, which is difficult when you can no longer swallow properly and you don't care for food anyway. But she's not in pain and she's not suffering so, at 94+, she's totally beaten the odds again! Every reason to celebrate! Which we did with a delivered sushi dinner. I refrained from the third birthday dessert of the day included with our order, a bunch of cookie-like Japanese treats in a box which looks lovely on our holiday table. On to year #69!