Yes, dear friends, time for yet another of those dreaded 'things' we celebrate, until about age 25. Then the party attitude turns to dismay, denial, then finally acceptance and acknowledgment...kinda like a disease! I'm talkin' bout birthdays!

I KNOW I'm lucky, and frankly surprised, I've lasted 56 years, but..I'm still howling at the moon. ( Not really, I'm generally in bed by 9pm!)

This morning, I am going to go to breakfast with a dear friend, who shares the same birthday fate that I do...both the same age...and both of us will undoubtbly recount our various aches and ailments to each other today. And while that is fun and certainly understandable!!!, I find a great comfort and joy in the fact that...Louie and the kitties don't care how old I am!

They don't care that I have wrinkles under my eyes, that I need a hearing aid, that my roots are white, that I need to lose 20 (ok ok, 30!) pounds...they don't care.

Pets exist in the day, the here and now and they just accept me no matter what I look like, or what car I'm driving, or even what my bank account says...they love me.

Yes, it's unconditonal love and acceptance. And no one but pets, YOUR pets, do that. They are happy just to share time...and treats...with us!

And for that, we should give them our hearts and souls.

If we're lucky, we all age.

But the love of a pet, never grows old...

(Wonder how old 56 is in dog years???? Nah, don't wanna know...)