{"id":1425,"date":"2013-11-17T08:05:52","date_gmt":"2013-11-17T16:05:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michellejolin.com\/wordpress\/?p=1425"},"modified":"2013-11-17T08:11:13","modified_gmt":"2013-11-17T16:11:13","slug":"happy-birthday-to-me-now-lets-talk-about-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=1425","title":{"rendered":"Die young, stay pretty (Happy Birthday, Me)"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

Everything dies, baby that’s a fact.
\nBruce Springsteen\/Atlantic City<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This might sound a little weird. Everything I say sounds a little weird. I know, I know–a lot<\/em> weird.<\/p>\n

But really.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today is my 50th birthday, and not to be all macabre or anything, but I certainly never expected to live this long.<\/p>\n

All through my life, I’ve\u00a0 thought I would die at around 40. I don’t remember ever having a fortune teller predict it, or a dream foretelling it, but I never thought I’d live very long. My Mom says when I turned 30 I said something about not expecting to make another decade. Maybe I just thought it would sound dramatic, but here I am at 50 and I really don’t mind all that much that I was wrong about being dead. Being alive is kind of OK.<\/p>\n

My friends and family are wonderful, I have a great husband, a job I like…things are better than I ever thought they’d be. <\/p>\n

Now, I’m not going to be one of those irritating people saying “oooooh, I’m better than ever” because at least physically I’m not. Time leaves\u00a0 its marks on everyone. It’s been kind to me compared to some other people, but I am not 25 any more.<\/p>\n

Don’t get me wrong. I am still not hard to look at, and I feel pretty good physically. Am I as cute as I was a quarter of a century ago? Did you ever see me when I was 25? No way.\u00a0 When I look at my life, though, I’m so much happier now, and so much smarter about life that\u00a0 I don’t mind the physical deterioration too much.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Then:<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0\"weddingCrop\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Now:<\/p>\n

\"20131031-213109.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I’m not so bad for someone who is so very elderly.\u00a0I could do without the old-lady neck. Luckily for me, I inherited my beautiful Mother’s excellent genes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Thanks, Ma.<\/p>\n

PS: there was a football game yesterday, which our Duckies won. I’ll do the usual post-game tailgating review\/pictures tomorrow!<\/p>\n

PPS: I love you all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Everything dies, baby that’s a fact. Bruce Springsteen\/Atlantic City     This might sound a little weird. Everything I say sounds a little weird. I know, I know–a lot weird. But really.   Today is my 50th birthday, and not to be all macabre or anything, but I certainly never expected to live this … Continue reading Die young, stay pretty (Happy Birthday, Me)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2454,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-words"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michellejolin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/weddingCrop.jpg?fit=303%2C290&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7lr3R-mZ","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11505,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=11505","url_meta":{"origin":1425,"position":0},"title":"An imaginary conversation about premature excitement","author":"Michelle","date":"April 16, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"So I met someone I really had fun talking to the other day. Where did you meet? The usual top secret online location. Oh. Try not to sound so openly disgusted. I thought you meant you'd really met someone. Yeah, I should figure out a way to be more clear\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Imaginary Conversation"","block_context":{"text":"Imaginary Conversation","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=18"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11471,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=11471","url_meta":{"origin":1425,"position":1},"title":"An imaginary conversation about compliments","author":"Michelle","date":"April 10, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"So the other night, this guy told me he likes me because our conversations are random and weird. Oh, I'm sorry! Why? It was a great compliment. It was? Sometimes I don't think you know me at all... You do say weird things a lot. Right. 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Doesn't it bother you that it means you're\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Imaginary Conversation"","block_context":{"text":"Imaginary Conversation","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=18"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michellejolin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2270.jpg?fit=896%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michellejolin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2270.jpg?fit=896%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michellejolin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2270.jpg?fit=896%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michellejolin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/IMG_2270.jpg?fit=896%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4109,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=4109","url_meta":{"origin":1425,"position":3},"title":"Obsession","author":"Michelle","date":"March 6, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"This is gonna sound a little obsessive This is gonna sound a little bit strange --Everclear\/Unemployed Boyfriend So, I keep scribbling away. It's getting worse and worse. I'm scribbling at work In my car. In bed. In the bathroom. In the morning before work. In the middle of the night.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Words"","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9129,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=9129","url_meta":{"origin":1425,"position":4},"title":"How to turn a bossy little girl into a shadow","author":"Michelle","date":"January 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"This is the sound of my soul --Spandau Ballet\/True When I was little, I was a bossy child. I bossed my brother around. I bossed the neighborhood children around. I stated opinions with the perfect assurance of the eternally correct. 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