Ha, yes! My mom always felt the same way... except she was sure that she didn't.

When I was a kid, I loved to spend time with old people. I even asked a neighbor, who was maybe 60 at the time, what it was like to be old. Now that I am by any definition old, I still enjoy spending time with old folks, and young folk, and the middle agers too! As long as they aren't negative or grumpy, got no time for that. Although I am a city girl at my core the thing I most enjoy about my summers in Otter Lake is that all socialization includes the entire range of ages. In a tiny community you can't just hang with people your own age. Little kids run around the local bar, and the elders are drinking beer with the teenagers at their bonfire parties.

Clearly, I don't have the stamina I did at 30, but when I spend time with my younger friends I find we laugh and stress over the same things and have more in common than what separates us.

To be fair, this is the nicest crew of attorneys I've ever worked for. Of the 8.5 of them only two are a little precious and they're not anywhere close to the dragons I've dealt with in the past. My 2.5 big dogs are phenomenal women who treat everyone with respect.

Good to hear, Trudy. It makes such a huge difference to respect the people you work with.

Sending birthday wishes to Allyson today. Missing her and hoping that the year to come brings all good things.

Seems permitting and neglecting pandemics wasn't enough, now he's going to straight-up fucking start them. [link]

That’s awesome Trudy.

I got Covid for the first time at New Year’s. Nobody sent me a prize and now I’m kind of salty about that.

My dad made the same comments about “old people”. I take it as kind of an imperfect shorthand for people who are no longer active and engaged with the world (whatever that looks like in their personal circumstances ) or interested in new things.

I'm turning 64 this year and I'm still thrown when quite obviously old people smile and nod at me in acknowledgment as if I was in their age cohort (which I am).

Matilda has norovirus, which is sweeping through Japan now. Many of her classmates also got hit.

Oh dear, health~ma for Matilda and friends. No fun.

Oh dear, health~ma for Matilda and friends. No fun.

I talked to her last night. I think she's on the mend but she lost some days at school. Side note on the puppy she wants to adopt: She told her host mom that she wanted to adopt the puppy, and Otasan said (in Japanese): "Fight! Fight! Fight!"