Updated: 04/27/2009 9:14 PM KSTP.com | Print Story
By: Art Barron

BARRON: Seeing family and friends and enjoying getting older

Art Barron and Sister Wendy last weekend

When you celebrate your birthday do you feel good, or dread that another year has gone by?

I remember when I turned fifteen, I thought wow!!! over the hill. I actually thought that while I was in high school. Fifteen felt so old... only a three years away from no longer being a minor.

Then I remember when I turned 25, Geeze!!! a quarter of a century. I'm now way into adulthood. That was a while ago. Now, I'm enjoying the age thing. I feel you reach a milestone. You know you have hit the big time when AARP starts sending stuff in the mail. I remember my mom didn't like it when she first started getting correspondence some twenty years ago, but I don't mind it. The word retirement is so foreign to me. That won't happen for quite a long time. I have three kids who depend on me, and yes, I must start thinking of my mom and eventual care for her. So you get it at both ends... anyway, I love to work.

My Mom recently threw a party for me and there were family members and long time friends who dropped by. The gift of choice? Red Wine. Needless to say 20 people and my Mom and her husband inherited some bottles of Napa Valley Grape Juice. They were all smiles. (lots of bottles)

The next morning I was invited to join my Mom and her friends all in their 70's and 80's at the corner coffee shop. I would have been bored as a kid. But it was so refreshing to sit and listen to their funny stories, and their aches and pains. They laugh about it, and put each other down. Then there is one woman who is in her seventies but looks like 50 because of the facelifts and Botox injections. She looks great, and her husband looks so much older. He was all smiles.

My friends have certainly changed through the years... but we all still carry those wondrous memories from our childhood years. We all get a kick recalling things like collecting fossils together in the mountains, getting kicked off a ride at Disneyland (wont go into detail) , selling ice cream at the beach, having egg fights during halloween, and watching the Friday night line-up on tv when we were'nt out and about.

You always wonder how you survived those years, and can't imagine having it any other way.