Thank you all for the kind thoughts; I have to assume that hanging on to the famous Mr. Anderson's coat-tails has also given me some reflected glory ( Haaapy, haaaapy barfday Dave! )
Was a fairly quite birthday celebration - IRL I shrug off my birthdays and tend to flee into the woods on that day so that only the nearest and dearest can hound me.
When I was younger I would look forward to my birthdays - getting older gave me some clout; but now I tend to ignore them and hope no one notices, since getting older only seems to automatically make me seem senile.
Obviously, I haven't reached the 'Yoda' stage yet - but having a few grey hairs appear last year (quite a shocking discovery for even the least vain among us I would hazard) has spotlit my mortality, and has not so much taken away my state of denial as reminded me that life is to be used, enjoyed, and experienced to the fullest.
