Will you still need me, will you still feed me
When I’m sixty-four?

from the Beatles, of course. Oh, how we used to laugh to think way back then of ANY of us living to such an O.L.D. age as 64. And, yet it has happened. Just this week – Monday, in fact.

Back in the days of my yearning for the love of just one look from my fave Beatle (Paul, of course) there was no way I could think of being this ancient age. I would sooner be 6 feet under or tossed on the wind as to think of sags and bags and jiggly wags upon my fine young body.

Then with each year a new joy: wedding, births of babes, move thousands of miles from “home” to HOME in Alaska, grandbabies, anniversaries, joys, sorrows followed by more joys, L.I.F.E.

Ups and Downs and pounds and pounds – also up and down. This is a pic of me (the one that got me to the gym that very first time in 2012) at close to my heaviest weight:

I’m at the finish line of a race put on by my agency every year – I don’t run it – I work it. This pic was on the FRONT page of the local paper. I couldn’t cut it out fast enough. Sigh.

And, here we are this fine wintry morning – being lazy on this Friday of my birthday week. Yes, I took a WEEK off work to celebrate/vegetate/cogitate upon beginning my 65th year upon God’s green earth.

Just how does one celebrate such a milestone (other than the week off)? Monday started out with a visit to my internist for med-check and general howdy-do. Doc is well pleased with my life-style changes and commiserated with me on my slight indiscretions over the holidays. She ordered bloodwork to check my A1C (blood glucose) levels and sent me on my way with a “we’ll see you again in 6 months.” She called me (!!! yes, called me !!!) Wednesday with the news that I should continue with my lifestyle changes as they are working – my A1C was down by .2.

Hubbymoose and I left her office and went to a diner for breakfast, chatting with the waitress and enjoying some time together. We don’t get much of that these days as he works nights and I work days. We see each other generally at breakfast and dinner each day. But, he has Mondays off so we took fair advantage.

Then, a trip to the DMV to get our licenses renewed. He has HIS 64th birthday next week and is due – mine is not due until 2015, but there were reasons I wanted to renew mine now. (more following)

Back home to rest from our excursion. (ha) Then off back to Soldotna for meds and lunch – because they go together so well. We ran into people we know and had a great time of it.

Then, at 5 (after a “quick” run to drop off one of the rigs to a shop I headed out to the gym for my birthday workout – fondly termed by me as Barbara’s Birthday Blaster. I’ve been doing a crossfit style workout at the gym since October and I had asked Coach Nikki to design a workout just for me (and all my friends who usually work out with me – and any I could convince to come and play for the night,)

She did it in aces – and along with the regular crew of Tina, Kelly, and Morgan, both daughters came (with two granddaughters to take pictures) and a coworker came. Youngest daughter could not “play” with us as she had fallen earlier in the day and injured her ankle, but she wanted to be there for Mom’s birthday. The computer sang to me when I ran my key fob under the scanner. (made me smile – “They say it’s your birthday!”)

No holds barred in the workout – we worked hard. TWO WODs (Workouts of the Day) – a 6 minute AMRAP (As many reps as possible) and a 4 minute AMRAP – yes, you can see what she did there. The 6 minute was comprised of 10 burpees and a 50 yard farmer carry – I completed 4 rounds plus 3 burpees. The 4 minute was 12 Kettlebell swings and 10 lunges – I completed 4 sets of the kb swings and was 8 lunges into the last set of 10 lunges at time. Not bad for an old gal, right?

We, of course, posed for pictures:

Back to the DMV story – I do some traveling for work and that requires TSA screenings. My last trip in December had every TSA officer and airlines rep doing double takes when seeing my driver’s license. Can’t tell you how many times I was asked for my date of birth. I did a double take of my own when re-checking my DL picture . . . I wasn’t due for renewal until my birthday in 2015, but let’s see if they will renew. If nothing else maybe I could get a state photo ID to carry me over. Want to see why?

old license pic on the left – new on the right. A bit of a change, right?

My journey is not over. I’ve been at it for 18 months now – I am 65 pounds lighter – 13 plus inches smaller – down several pant sizes – but still have a way to go. I am thankful that 64 is not the end of me. I have grandbabies to see grow up. And workouts to do. Come play with me.

Will you still need me, will you still feed me
When I’m sixty-four?