Just another cornstalk

Job 40: 10 Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty.

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Well I can’t let it pass without mentioning what a great birthday I had.

I arose at 5:30 in the morning not feeling  any older than I did the day before, but I knew it was a different day, it was my birthday; the day I was born on my mother’s 29th birthday.

I watched the sun rise, listened to the crane and their morning call to wake up, and I drank in all the beauty that the day was going to offer. I went shopping, like I always do on Tuesdays, and it felt different. It was different, “today is my birthday.” I thought, and proceeded through the store happily.

I arrived home, ate my lunch, a chili-cheese dog! One of my favorites. You’ve never tasted a hot dog until you’ve added chili and cheese with mustard and onions on it. Then I rested for the other two hours of the day before we went off to my mom-in-laws house where S. and his mom conspired together to have me a Strawberry Shortcake waiting.

Now this wasn’t the store bought kind that you see with little cakes, this was homemade patties, baked to a sweet crisp and chopped up strawberries with a dollop of whip cream on top. How awesome is that? I absolutely love Strawberry Shortcake. I’m not a big dessert fan, never was, but S.S. is my utter weakness.

We came home and I relished the joy of the day. All of my virtual friends who mattered, left me warm wishes on facebook and in my email. I was virtually blessed, pun intended, because they might all be virtual people in my life, they are my family in my heart. They are real people with lives of their own who took time out of the day to wish ME a happy birthday.

The crane were in the fields, lined up like little soldiers with their grey-blue bodies and bobbing heads. Lanky and awkward looking, they murmur in the fields, I imagine all singing happy birthday to me, or wondering what all these crazy folk are doing staring at them. When one takes flight they all decide, “Hey wait for me!” and in a rapid procession they all fly into the sky. The backdrop of an empty cornfield, with these beautiful creatures, all fleeing the scene, is wondrous to behold.

Back in Texas and Maryland, when I walked down the street, the cat calls, the ogling bothered me to no end. I felt like a piece of meat at the evening luau. Sure I may be good looking at five foot four, thin build, long blond wavering hair, and sea blue eyes, but I was meat for the man.

Here in Nebraska, the men don’t ogle, they nod respectfully with a gentle smile. Here in Nebraska...I’m just another cornstalk in the field of beautiful images. I’m finally where I belong, amid the singing crane, the cows with their calves, the mare with their foal, the fields that are alive with allurement. I celebrated my first birthday in Nebraska with grace and dignified beauty.

Thank you all for making my life a wonderful balance!