BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS
In Less Than A Month, I’ll Be Eighty
Will I read May Sarton’s poems on her own 80th year?
If there’s any consolation to turning 80 — other than that it’s better than the alternative — it’s possibly that I’ll be celebrating my birthday in Rome. As I write this, my friend Kit, who I’ll meet there is on a flight bound for Oslo and a Mediterranean Cruise she’ll be taking first. The cruise is sort of the main course, meeting me in Rome is the dessert. Or something like that.
Anyway, we’re both looking forward to our Roman adventure. We’ve yakked endlessly on the phone about it — what shoes to take, what medications, should I take my hiking pole so I don’t trip on cobblestone streets. Such is life at this age.
One thing I won’t be taking to read is May Sarton’s collection of poems about her thoughts on turning 80.
‘observations and reflections, many of which came to her as if by magic during the small hours of the morning. Along with the daily events of writing a letter, appreciating her flowers, taking care of her car Pierrot.
No thanks. I learned my lesson with May Sarton’s thoughts on being 70 — a milestone that affected me in a way that no other birthday had done. While fifty triggers a midlife crisis for many, it didn’t…
