Happy Birthday, Mr. President

Some days are just a gift. For this morning's walk, my neighbor F., and I waited till mid-morning and walked over to the Carter Center. F, who used to work for President Carter before she retired (lucky girl), said there was an event going on. She made it sound like a little office bun fight in honor of the newly renovated presidential library and, oh yeah, President Carter's 85th birthday.

I guess for someone who attended the Nobel Peace Prize celebrations, a little birthday party in the garden is no big deal, but for me and a few hundred others, a rendition of Happy Birthday, Mr. President, led by a dozen grandchildren and others, was pretty special.

It was lovely to see President and Mrs. Carter looking so chipper. Ditto the Mondales, Reverend Lowery (still funny), Mayor Franklin (still grim) and even the token Republican, Gov. Purdue (still red).

I'd been fretting lately over the lack of 'neighborhood' immediately surrounding my high rise.

there's a price to pay for the view I cherish. Sometimes I wish I'd bought in midtown, closer to shops, coffee houses and people with permanent addresses. But as I strolled through the Carter Center's gardens, I remembered that just 10 minutes away was one of the pretties places in Atlanta. I just needed to remember it's here. Hell, I just need to look out the window and to the right.

I'd also been wishing, just this morning, that I'd kept in touch with some of my former ACA continuing education students. Teaching at that school provided my life with more meaning than any other of my many many jobs and I would like to know how they are doing and if they are still writing. Wouldn't you know, sitting two people to my right and known to F., was a woman from a class I taught back in the 1990s! She didn't say if she was still writing, but she did tell me about another woman she met in that class and how they are still friends.

How often do we get what we ask for? More often than we realize, I think. We just have to remember to remember we asked and remember to look for the gift. It's right there.