Well, it happened...

I turned 50. There was so much anticipation leading up to me turning 50 (well, so much anticipation from ME) and then it was done.

I am half a hundred.

I woke up at 4:45am and got ready to go to the gym for my "Total Body Transformation" class. I got home and showered then headed to my wood carving class where I shared a pan of gluten-free brownies with everyone. One of my friends there brought me some flowers and another brought a sampling of macrons. Yum!

I came home and looked at all of the well-wishes on Facebook. Then I headed out to the corner plaza for a pedicure. I was looking forward to the massage and just relaxing for an hour. Instead, I ended up with one of the owners doing my pedicure and it was a speed pedi and I was out in 30 minutes. (!)

Ash brought by a slew of irises from her, Spy and Jule. They were lovely.

Stephen came home while I was gone and decorated with some Mylar balloons and a banner then cooked a flank stead and garlic mashed potatoes for dinner.  Topped off with a gluten-free chocolate cake covered in Cadbury Crack (a.k.a. mini eggs).

I loved the low-key day and evening, spent with my family.

The one highlight (or lowlight, depending on how you look at it) of the day was speaking to my mom. She has pretty much forgotten how to answer her phone but if someone is close by when it rings, they will tell her and she will press the button on the ear buds. I called her about 25 times until she finally answered the phone (a lady named Margaret was walking with her and heard the ringing). I told my mom I just wanted to talk to her on my birthday and she replied that no, her birthday was in a couple of weeks (actually, a couple of months). I said "No, Mom. Today is *MY* birthday" and she said "Well how old are you then? 49?" "No, 50" I said. She replied "Well then that means I am going to be 80 in a couple of weeks".

It was not much of a conversation but it was really, really important to me that I speak to her that day. She does not call anyone anymore. She was evaluated by the Community Care people and she now has an aide everyday for 30 minutes (which should ease some of the cost from the retirement home) and she is on a waiting list for a nursing home. Her decline is stunningly fast. JP and I had booked flights out to see her in May for her 80th birthday but then I decided I needed to go sooner so I am also going out on April 22 for a few days. My brother said it is good because he is not sure that my mom will know me by the time her birthday rolls around.

My poor mom.

*crying*