Happy Birthday, my friends!

I have been invited to or have helped to plan a great many birthday parties in the past two years. I am not including, in those parties, events for my spouse of 50 years, my 4 adult children, their spouses, nor my 9 grandchildren. Those family events occur for all of us.
I am talking about the 10 or 12 birthday parties that I have been asked to attend and helped to plan for nonagenarians.
Because of where I choose to work, I know a lot of folks over the age of ninety, and
every one of them is special. They make themselves special because of their attitude. When folks get to be ninety, they stop worrying about how old they are and start celebrating their "old age." It's a freeing sort of thing. When you turn ninety, you are proud to announce your age. It is a marvelous attitude of achievement.
By golly, if you live to be ninety years old (and older), you deserve to be proud of your age.
I love the baby pictures that often accompany the invitations I love to look at those pictures and I try to see the seniors that I have come to know and love. I love the attention the 90 year-olds get from their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. I appreciate the admiration they get from their friends and acquaintances. It's a grand time.
I hope we all live to be ninety.

Great God: Thank you for life. Thank you for growing old. Thank you for loving friends and family. When life gets tough, we know that you are there for us.
We praise your Holy Name.