May Our Songs All Be Sung

Betty Johnson Wagner **** Betty, Georgia Bell and me.

Well-here I go. Today is my last day in the fifties. Tomorrow. Sixty. 6-0. Sixty years.

Don't misunderstand me. I don't wish to be eternally young. That Dorian Grey thing is not doing it for me. I would not want to go back in time and do anything over again. Emily tried it in Thornton Wilder's "Our Town" and she quickly returned to the present. Writers who explore the idea of time travel all come back to the same conclusion. If we change the past, it is usually less than successful.



Years passing help us earn our stripes- life experiences truly do make us wiser. Not smarter perhaps, but certainly more attuned to what is important. Age makes us more grateful for our blessings. More appreciative. More willing to trust and to not grip the steering wheel so tightly. Years passing put things that need to be, firmly in the past - and things that need to be remembered, forever etched in our heart.


I had an early birthday present yesterday. Unexpected but wonderful. A letter from a friend. Not unusual for a birthday, but this one was particularly special.


When I close my eyes and think of college- I think of laughing so hard that Boone's Farm comes out of my nose; of climbing out of windows and down fire escapes; of cruising through Norman on my Raleigh bike, singing "Oh Lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz....." at the top of my lungs. I think of trips to Amarillo and Alan Reed Ranch, where I caught a glimpse of a cowboy lifestyle I had never experienced. I tasted an artichoke for the first time. I schlepped through Europe with a backpack and a Eurail Pass- Flamenco dancing in Barcelona with handsome Chileans and attending a Verdi concert at Notre Dame in Paris. I skied Aspen, six to a room but first class all the way. All with my friend Betty.


Betty and I were in the same Kappa Kappa Gamma pledge class and could not have been more different. We truly looked like Mutt and Jeff. Me, short and Betty- Betty who walked in a room and everyone noticed. Tall, yes, but tall with a commanding presence, a whiskey voice and a style that was all her own. Betty was everything I was not. Confident. Cocky. Fearless. Experienced. Absolutely fabulous. I adored her. She took me under her long and lean wing and off we went. Under Betty's tutelage, I learned to not take myself so seriously. To cut myself some slack. To not be afraid of anything new or different. I found myself seizing the day and changing how I saw myself along the way.


We are forever friends but time has passed and we have not actually seen each other for years. We have tried many times but the constraints of family and jobs and just living has put our reunion on hold. It may be years and distance between us, but we both know each other so well, when we greet each other again, we won't miss a beat.


This turning 60 thing has created quite a buzz with all of us who are...(is that grammatically correct?) It's not the actual turning, it's how quickly the time has passed. Whoooosh. I am delighted than my mercurial and magic friend Betty has also felt the energy and reached out to me. I have missed her so.


So tomorrow comes. How lucky I am. People I love are making a milestone very special for me. We'll gather and reminisce but we will also make plans for the future. There are still curfews to break, uncharted lands to explore, still dances in the moonlight and the sound of laughter from those I love. A toast to Birthdays. May we all stay forever young! chrissie




Give yourself a treat- Bob Dylan singing his classic-Forever Young


www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sldgunY3Fw