On this day in history...

On December 14th..........

1476: Vlad the Impaler died
1503: Nostradamus was born
1542: Princess Mary Stuart was crowned Queen Mary I of Scotland (also King James V of Scotland died)
1799: George Washington, first president of the United States, died
1819: Alabama became the 22nd U.S. state
1895: King George VI of the United Kingdom was born
1903: The Wright brothers made their first attempt to fly in Kitty Hawk, NC
1911: Roald Amundsen and his team of explorers become the first men to reach the South Pole
1955: Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Laos, Portugal, Romania and Spain join the United Nations
1972: Eugene Cernan of NASA's Apollo program is the last man to walk on the moon (Apollo 17)

and one more December 14th thing.............

1971: I WAS BORN

Yep, that's right, born on the same day that Nostradamus was born and Dracula and George Washington died. Born on the day that man first set foot on the South Pole and the day that man last set foot on the moon. It was a Tuesday, which means I should be "full of grace" according to the old poem, though in reality I am quite a klutz. I am a Sagittarius, which gives me attributes supposedly including being "witty conversationalist, humorous, idealistic, positive, optimistic, honest, sincere, intelligent, intellectual, moral, often having a religious streak, confident, versatile, approachable, warm, cheerful, likable, sympathetic, spontaneous" as well as being "temperamental, impatient, restless, blunt, impulsive, careless, indiscreet." Sagittarians are also supposedly "childlike" which can be a positive or a negative trait depending on the context. I was born in the Chinese year of the Boar, which purportedly gives me the following traits: "Honest, simple, gallant, sturdy, sociable, peace-loving, patient, loyal, hard-working, trusting, sincere, calm, understanding, thoughtful, scrupulous, passionate, intelligent. Can be naive, over-reliant, self-indulgent, gullible, fatalistic, materialistic." Hmmm. I think, frankly, that I can be a bit of all of the above or none of the above, depending. I'm just me!

Anyhow, on this day as I have each December 14th since I was old enough to comprehend the meaning and significance of a birthday, I give heartfelt thanks to my birthmother for giving me life and to my mother and father for giving me my life and my family, and just plain thanks for being alive for one more year. And hey, I'm still "mid-thirties" for another 365 days, right? Woo-hoo!

My plans for today (when I wake up in - hopefully - another seven hours, as I've written this post to publish on the dot of midnight) are to have breakfast with Hubby and Kiddo (and in case Hubby happens to actually read this before I get up, I would be super-excited if breakfast included some of the bacon that's in the freezer, extra-well done of course), then go to church, followed by lunch out at our local Macaroni Grill. It may not be a super-fine, gourmet dining establishment, but I love their food and Kiddo can draw on the tablecloths, so it is a win-win kind of situation! (They have delicious adult beverages there as well, although if I indulge in one of them, I may subsequently need a birthday nap!) Then it will be home for some of that delicious birthday cake and watching The Polar Express for the first time. Hubby and I somehow have never got around to seeing it either in the theater or on DVD yet and Kiddo never has seen it either, so that will be our afternoon plan! All in all, I'm expecting this to be a delightful day!