32

Photo: Leo Reynolds

According to Wikipedia, 32 is a happy number. It's also the number of pages in a standard comic book. And the Fahrenheit temperature at which water freezes. Today, it's also my age - a way of marking the passage of time. The last few years, that particular pastime has been full of frustrations at those things that weren't part of the equation. Those things that, in my own mind and heart or in the eye's of others were subtractions. But this year, I choose to look at the math a little differently. This year, I'm going to look at what adds up to 32 reasons to celebrate myself.

1. Daughter - Perhaps my first role in life...one I arrived almost a full month late for, but when I showed up, it was with a total devotion to my parents that I carry still.
2. Little sister - It came fast on the heels of daughter, being a sister, and the fierce loyalty and love for my older sister and brother with it.  
3. Friend - I'm still friends with some of my earliest friends - Sarah, who I've known since I was three; Niki, who's been one of my dearest friends since first grade.  That loyalty thing again.
4. Loyalty - So let's talk about that thing loyalty. Once I'm won, I'm hard to lose.
5. Smile - From the earliest pictures, I can see my smile. Even if the baby face doesn't look like me anymore, that smile - big, open, happy - is there.
6. Laugh - Loud, cackling and anything but ladylike, it's frequent and heartfelt. And contagious.
7. Writer - I found one of the great loves of my life early in words and stuck with it.
8. Pictures - My eyes see, and I can show what I see.
9. Honesty - I cannot tell a lie. Never could.
10. Hugs - Hugs are little bits of love passed on through a squeeze. I believe in 'em. And I give them out with reckless abandon.
11. Compassion - No one ever cries alone.
12. Left-handed - My wronghandedness has always been a badge of honor - especially when I have the telltale smear of pen ink on the outside of my hand.
13. Humor - I can laugh at me.  That's important.
14. Courage - When I got to a point in my life when I really needed help, I admitted my frailties and found the strength to ask for help.
15. Clumsiness - My bruises and scrapes (literal and figurative) have been the reason for many a side-splitting story.
16. Dandelions - I know they're weeds, but even weeds need love.
17. Hopeful - Despite the trials and tribulations, I never lose hope that better things await.
18. Creativity - The inner-workings of my brain are mysterious and magical.
19. Faith in mankind - While it gets me into trouble from time to time, I have an unfailing (some would say naive) faith in the goodness of man.
20. Aunt - A more recent addition to my list (four years and counting), I lavish love on my nieces and nephews.  And promise to teach the left-handed one to tie his shoes.
21. Volunteer - The notion of giving of one's self and one's time entirely for the benefit of someone else carries the power of change.
22. Adventure - Some would question my inclusion of this...not an innate quality of mine...but a learned one that has led me to push my boundaries and discover the world outside of my comfort zone.
23. Openness - No mystery here, which I often lament. But you can trust that what you see is what you get.
24. Simplicity - While I can get caught up in an overstimulated need/want frenzy with the best of them, in the end, I can enjoy the simplest of things: clouds, a particularly lovely tree, a drop of water on the edge of a petal, that you can buy something called Fluff in a jar.
25. House - The bane of my existence for some time, it's still something I accomplished. Like a grown-up or something.
26. Nostalgia - All that came before, hazy with hindsight, is precious.
27. Shoes - What, you say?  How can shoes be on this list?  Because they've evolved into some extension of all the facets of my personality.  A shoe for all seasons.
28. Grace in the profane - One of my grad school professors used this phrase all the time...and I like to think I've learned how to see the grace even in the dimmest of circumstances.
29.  Curiosity - Mostly this leads to the accumulation of more useless trivia knowledge, but occasionally, I find a way to turn it into something meaningful.
30.  Encourager - I will be your cheerleader and your champion.  Your triumph is mine; your failure is a reason for me to swoop in with hugs (see #10).
31.  Singing - It's a terrible racket. But I do it because it makes me happy - with the windows down and the radio up, and it's one thing that's taught me not to apologize for those things that bring me joy.
32. Love - In an ever-widening circle of people, from those who have known me for decades, to those who have come into my life in recent years and months, there is love.  I never run out of that.

So that's my list.  Happy birthday to me and all my 32 years.

Dear Tuesday:

While I'm certainly aware of the fact that you aren't Monday, you will have to act less like a Monday in order for me to view you in a more kindly manner. I found your behavior today to be a particular affront considering that I got up early (which I never do) and made it to work early (which I never do) - such an anomaly, in fact, that it caused one coworker to suggest the apocalypse was upon us. On a day such as this, when I clearly put my best foot forward, it was quite insulting for you to stick out your proverbial leg and trip me up so royally that I spent the rest of the day on my face.

For example, it would have been more considerate to not play fruit-basket-turnover with my DNS setting early this morning necessitating an hour-long call to tech support in order to allow me to connect to the internet. And if said call had not left me a mere 12 minutes to prepare for my 10 o'clock call. Furthermore, it added insult to injury to spend the better part of my afternoon dealing with yet another technical issue on behalf of a client. A technical issue, I might add, that is so far beyond my realm of technical aptitude that all it really did was deepen my curmudgeonly demeanor and distract me from eating lunch until 2 o'clock. At that point, Tuesday, you really could've taken pity on me. But instead, you brought me an emergency ad deadline, a rewrite request and a reminder that another ad deadline looms with the ad unfinished. Oh, and as I dashed out the door for my 5 o'clock appointment, it wasn't very keen of you to send that traffic jam and push my arrival time ten minutes late.

So, Tuesday, forgive me if I'm looking at you like you peed in my Wheaties. It kind of feels that way. And since you haven't let up on this not-so-comedy of errors, I'm going to go ahead and call the rest of the day a wash. And sternly demand that you keep your confounded hands off Wednesday.

Regards,
Ashley

An Uncomedy of Errors

* Woke up late (nothing new)
* Eyeshadow looks rather 80s this morning. Oh well.
* Yesterdays' shoes hurt; plan to wear comfortable shoes today
* Comfortable shoes look wretched
* Consider changing clothes; opt for pointy-toed heels
* No time to make lunch
* Coffeemaker auto shut-off; last cup lukewarm
* Walking out the door. It's cloudy. Remember umbrella is in bag upstairs. Impossible to "run" upstairs in pointy-toed heels.
* Get in the car. Remember keys are on chest by the door.
* Gas gauge? Less than 1/4 tank and a drive to Atlanta this afternoon ahead.
* On Prince Ave, in the right lane behind a gigantic truck easing along at roughly 5 mph
* Switch to left lane. Two cars ahead, a left blinker winks. Traffic sails by on the right.
* Arrive at office, nearly 45 minutes late. Park badly.
* Nearly mowed down by a frat boy in a Jeep plowing down Meigs Street
* In office, decry events of the morning to coworkers
* Realize work laptop is in back seat of car
* Spitting rain; umbrella in office
* Sitting in office - frizzy-haired, cramp-toed, drinking less-than-warm coffee and thinking of bed.