7 x 7

And so begins my final year under 50.

Your host, at work on his birthday

In many ways yesterday was my first social media birthday. In addition to the e-cards — both sweet and scandalous — my Facebook profile page was filled with well-wishes and digital gifts. Contacts on Twitter and Plurk sent their regards, as well. The ease of communication granted by a handful of keystrokes and the click of a mouse makes it so much simpler to offer greetings to people near or far, and greatly expand the circle of friends who have time to spend with you, even if only virtually.

This is shaping up to be a year in motion for me, with quite a bit of change in my life, leading toward my fiftieth birthday. The two, though, aren’t intentionally related; there are no red sports cars or besequined blond nymphettes in my future. Sometimes fate just conspires to bring symbolic gestures to life without our planning them.

But things could be worse. I have a lot of friends, both local and virtual, who will support me along the way. The shifts — although some will clearly be difficult — will lead to an overall positive change. And you know, perhaps it is merely my own vanity, but in looking at yesterday’s birthday photo, I think I am remarkably well-preserved for forty-nine. (It’s all that regrettable clean living, I assure you. There’s no portrait stashed in an attic here. Of course, if there were I would have lost track of it by now.)

Stick around. These should be interesting times.

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