birthday dinner at NONA

My birthday! I was quite depressed in the morning, which is a little peculiar, since I was looking forward to a visit from Molli. Perhaps my emotions got mixed up. I was crying eating breakfast, crying on our brief walk, even crying in the car on the way to the airport.

I have been thinking a lot about aging and health care and money. Biologically, our usefulness is over once we are finished reproducing. From a societal point of view, our usefulness is over when we are no longer adding anything. Perhaps (even if I weren't working), I should stick around to advise my children on raising their children. But when I get to a point that I am not able to care for myself, or add anything to the world (like writing an inspiring or helpful book), we shouldn't spend any more on keeping me alive. We have only a finite amount of resources; shouldn't they better go to someone struggling at the beginning of their life? Of course, we pay some people tons of money (sports and other celebrities, some CEO's)--they will probably have excellent care at the end of their lives. Is that a reward for the good they have done? Is everyone entitled to a pleasant end-of-life, because of their previous good (maybe not everyone)?

Yesterday's rain was actually negligible, but there was kind of a misty shower some of the morning. Ray and I walked when nothing was coming down. We headed out to pilates and the Farmers' Market and got the Captain a loaf of the bread that he likes: Rosemary and Salt Epi from Luna. My parents were here when we got home; they had brought some cold cuts for lunch.

My Dad was watering the garden extensively. He was starting to pick peas and I said Molli and I would do that later in the day, so he was glad to stop.

small salad

Ray and I headed out for the airport about 1:15. All went well, but Molli still manage to arrive before us. I don't know if she has incredible luck or all flights are arriving early these days. She found a working pay phone (on the 4th try) and called to tell us where to meet her. The traffic was pretty bad at the airport, but we pulled into the lane further away and walked over to meet her. It sure is wonderful to have her around. We have such a good time together.

When we got home, Ray took a nap. Molli settled in a little, called Adrian, and then we picked and shelled peas for a while. We cooked some and ate them and froze the rest. We all got dressed for dinner and headed back to NONA. My parents were already there, at an upstairs table by the window. Janna, Deb, and John joined us. This time I took pictures of some of the food to send to my editor.

moon out the window

There was a somewhat abbreviated menu for graduation weekend.Several people had the scallops and they were still wonderful.  Molli and I split a 14 oz ribeye and we each had a lovely small salad. We had a ton of desserts and everyone sang happy birthday to me. Oh, we had 3 bottles of wine, as well as drinks. And I didn't pay. We left about 11 and Ray and I both had some trouble sleeping and a little indigestion. Ah, well. It was fun.