The big 3-0…eeek

I joined club 3-0 last week. I’ve been told by the experienced 30-somethings that it’s like club med but instead of rides, med stands for the medications my aching joints will need (nice one Makar)!

For my birthday this year I got three awesome surprises -  lunch, 30 presents in a box and a guitar!!! Last year my friends at the university planned a surprise “Lindsay day” and we had a picnic lunch. “Apparently” I was fairly resistant to the whole thing and asked way too many questions and made the surprise difficult. However, this year, I didn’t notice a thing or question when Jana wanted to go for a walk to External Relations on campus (carrying what later was revealed to be an empty envelope), using that as a way to get me to the atrium for my surprise lunch. We even walked by the atrium and Jana said “oh, there’s Jeff” and I said “strange, I wonder who he’s having lunch with…”. So I have a couple theories: either I’m dumber than last year, or I’m more laid back. Let’s go with laid back We had soup, salad and sandwiches. Heather was even able to make it since she was in town for the holidays so that was a fun surprise.

Larry and Brenda were pretty clever this year. Must be all that time spent coming up with things to keep Sage and Conrad busy. They sent 30 presents that I had to open in sequential order. They were a trip down memory lane. They started with a bib for age one, shoe laces for age 5, keychain for 16, booze for 19. Each present had significance to a particular age. 28 represented our wedding and 29 our kitty.  Thirty presents are sure a lot to open so I must be old. Was really neat and very thoughtful – thanks L & B!

Jeff bought me an acoustic guitar. I’ve always wanted to learn how to play. I tried to learn once in university but then my roommate with the guitar moved out. Then I picked it up last Christmas in Kamloops with Larry. It just seems that every time I start to get the hang of it, I was time for me to surrender the borrowed guitar.

The first day was rough. I could practice for about 3 minutes before my fingers were bleeding. I really need to build up some calluses. In between home renos I’ve been practicing a bit more and toughening up my fingers so I can play for about an hour now. It doesn’t sound good by any means. I am a two hit wonder right now: This land is your land and Free Falling. I’m also working on Walk the Line by Johnny Cash. We bought a book and Jeff is also learning. Eventually we will buy an electric guitar and jam. For now, we’ll just work on our C chord.

Rock on.