The morning of my 45th birthday feels like a distant memory. The day feels like a blur of birthday wishes, laced with stress. Then around 4:00 PM in the afternoon, my power went out. I could not get my phone to dial back into my Zoom meeting. The call was almost over when the power outage caused me to drop off. I had one meeting, which had a Team’s dial-in, so I joined that meeting, and then I found myself and Little Chirp sitting together in our cold, dark living room.
I texted a friend, and he told me that there were no significant outages in the ERCOT grid, meaning that places nearby have power. Little Chirp and I decided to go out to eat for my birthday. It is as if the lights going on reset my emotions. While extremely tired on the drive, I found myself looking forward to enjoying a meal with Little Chirp.
We arrived at Del Frisco’s and made the short, cold, rainy walk from the parking garage to the restaurant. From the moment we walked into the door, everything about our dining experience was perfect. I spoiled Little Chirp with a 20 oz, bone in ribeye. He shared it with me. He had always wanted to order a large bone in ribeye, and this was his chance. All of our food and our service was excellent.
I was back home and in bed asleep before 7:30 in the evening. I woke up early on Friday, feeling well rested, and ready to take on the day. My day of meeting went incredibly well. The most important of those meetings, being the meeting with the high-caliber individual that I wrote about on the morning of my birthday.
Not only is he one of the highest caliber people that I have ever worked with, but he is also self-aware. He did not blame me for the previous negative interaction. He wanted to have an open dialogue on how we can effectively work together, without me feeling like cannot speak up. I have no doubt that we will be able to find our effective way of working together. I was really impressed with his honesty and open mindedness in our discussion. The world would be a different, much better place if everyone was willing to have an open dialogue to understand how to adjust working styles to form a strong team.
I then had a long meeting with my boss. I openly shared that I would like my present company to be my last stop before retirement in five years. He confirmed he would like for me to be a part of the company’s journey for the next five years. When I first planned for my retirement, I aimed for 45. I still very much need my job, so I missed the mark by five years, but I am not the least bit sad about it. The last decade, my life has been a healthy balance of saving for retirement and enjoying life. Working another five years to have this balance does not bother me at all. I love the work that I do. I would not have wanted Thursday, my forty-fifth birthday to have been my last day.
I left work late on Friday afternoon, almost wishing that the next day was Monday. I felt ready to tackle another work week. I headed to my favorite locally owned steakhouse for a glass of sparkles and some seafood, and then I met up with friends. I woke up with a pounding headache on Saturday. I spent the day on Saturday trying to find tile for my bathroom remodel, no luck. Maybe my headache got in the way.
Saturday evening, Yvonne and Page picked me up, and we met up with Marissa and Scott for dinner at Perry’s. Dinner was awesome. There is no other way to describe it. My headache was gone once I had a little bread and well, a glass of bubbly. We dined at the bar, and the bartender was clearly happy to see us. We ate, we drank, we laughed, and we celebrated.
We started the evening early, so we could get home early. I was asleep before nine o’clock last night. I slept well, and I am ready to tackle a new week, the start of the next year of my life. It was indeed a happy birthday for me.