The Big Birthday Blog

Hello everyone, cheerful greetings on this new day. I have been asked to share the good news. I just celebrated 60 years old, or young if you are hung up on that sort of thing. I think it is a milestone to mention and not get too philosophical about the whole deal. We all get older, and it truly is a privilege. I think about my life and the times things could have gone really wrong, by no one’s fault, just a simple mistake, how fragile it all seems. Oh no, I have drifted into deep philosophical thought, way beyond my depth.  Let’s keep it simple.

Memorable dinners on vacation

Over the past year, on more than one occasion, the topic of age had come up, and people were surprised at my age. I do believe they were just being polite, but a few were looking sideways like I was telling a joke. I have no secrets about looking younger, I had a lot of grey hair in my thirties, it is still there. I just cut my hair shorter these days and say thank you that I still have hair to cut.

Bob loading the new van

OK, enough about the age change. What is new and exciting? I did not have time last year to tell everyone that I bought a new work van. Well…new to me, it is a 2014.  My old van was a 2010. I had the old van for 9 years and it had 180,000 miles, this newer van is only at 74,000 miles, and the good news is that I only put about 5,000 miles per year on the work van. So hopefully this van will go for a long time.

Originally, it was a passenger van with a wheelchair hydraulic lift inside and I converted it by removing the seats and hydraulic lift-650 pounds of metal that I brought to the scrap yard. Then I built in all my shelves and storage bays to safely transport us and all our equipment to our craft shows. I bought the van in April 2025, and we have been through a complete season with no real problems. Did I mention how much fun it was to have this new project to do?  And I had to call a friend to help. So now we have some fun memories of doing a difficult task together.

Looking in the back door of the van after Bob's buildout

From the side door of the van

Back to the birthday for a moment, Ellen had talked about this milestone as a reason to celebrate. By that, Ellen means go somewhere and have a nice vacation, and I agreed. Last year our niece was getting married in Vegas, so we decided not to take a vacation of our own and spend a few extra days in Vegas and do some vacation stuff. We had a great time, but Vegas was much higher energy than our typical vacation. 

Our first dinner with a sunset view on Providenciales

So, for this occasion we decided to go to the Turks and Caicos Islands. We had been there before and I remember the beautiful turquoise water and soft white sand, unlike anything I had ever seen. Turks was just as I remembered, if not better. To make the trip even more memorable, Ellen has just finished creating a Turks and Caicos Islands map, with her beautiful watercolor painting.

Our new Turks & Caicos Islands map

I believe that talking about a vacation can seem insensitive when others are struggling and that is not my intention. We had planned the trip in January and put down non-refundable deposits. Then things changed, for everybody, and our business slowed down. I was very concerned about taking a vacation. There are always more expenses than you plan for, and also the idea that we are only going to be here this one time so let's splurge a little.

We had a beautiful view from our room

Bob about to enjoy the Caribbean buffet lunch just after we arrived.

When we arrived and took a shuttle to the location, they let us check in and we went down to the water. I knew then that I needed this vacation more than I wanted to admit. I have been getting caught up in too many issues which I have no control over. I just needed time to relax and really disconnect from everything. It was so good to be in such a beautiful location with Ellen, my favorite person ever, and know that for the next week, we have nothing to worry about besides getting the good chairs on the beach. Which we did. The trick is to put your towels out before going to breakfast.

One of many perfect beach days to enjoy the crystal clear water

I had been thinking about turning 60 and I wondered what it would feel like. Some sort of anticipation of an event. It turned out to be nothing, just another day. We made it special by inviting a few friends over for a meal and spending time together. Ellen picked up a huge chocolate cake for us to share with everybody, which left plenty extra for us to have for later. Ellen and I sat in the morning with coffees and talked about our time together and all the wonderful memories we have shared.

I don’t have any big secrets to pass on about how to build and maintain a happy life. I think it is different for everybody. I just want to be happy on the inside, and I really don’t want that to be at someone else’s expense. I think there is enough happiness to go around, more than enough to share. Again, I divert into some philosophical thinking, or as I like to say, “so far so good”.

Thanks for taking time to read this blog, hope all is well with you,
Bob B