Dear ones,

This very day I was born 70 years ago. Many people have celebrated this occasion with me but today, mid-week, was pretty quiet. I meditated, walked the dog, swam, went to a French film and wrote an email to my newly discovered half sister.

WHAT????

Two days ago,  my younger child called to tell me that her cousin Deirdre in Belgrade had been contacted by a 72 yo woman who found her from Ancestry.com. She was born in 1948 and adopted out at birth. She's got a child and grandchildren. Eden is already on Facebook with her new cousin.

To say I'm shocked is an understatement. Just doing the math...Dad was married before my mother and he had a son, my half brother, in 1945. He divorced that wife, met my mother and I was born in 1950. So somewhere in there he had a fling? an infidelity? who knows?? and this person showed up. We're speculating that he wasn't even aware that he had another kid.

We all knew Dad was a ladies man, In other words, he got around and had affairs when he was married to my mother. It was never talked about but we all knew. We all knew.

Anyway, her name is Lauren and I'll just wait to see if she responds.

When Eden called, she said, "Hey mom, you have a sister! Happy birthday!!!" hahahahahahahaha.

Jeezus.

Some of my favorite people. The Oregon coast is glorious.

We've had so much rain here the ground has liquified. When Felix and I go to our park, it's a muddy soup. He slides around and loses his footing. And as he is white, he is like one of those half moon cookies, white above and brown below.

I got him into the lake where he swam for a bit. Then he stood shivering on the shore. No amount of showing off for the black retriever could convince him to go back in one more time.

On the 15th, we all head for the Oregon coast and a seven bedroom house with a sauna and a short walk to the beach for my 70th birthday. My daughter put together a montage of photos to music and while watching, I thought, 'Jeez, I'm fat.' Really Beth, that's all you can say about living this long, in reasonable health, with family and friends who love you. How ungrateful.

I've been elected to a new BOD. It's all white folks. I'm afraid I'll be the squeaky wheel board member, you know the one, who's always complaining about the lack of diversity. I'm gonna be that person. My friend Rachel says if I complain, I need to also have a solution. How about this-Hey, lets start over, using a truly diverse community as our template. And have a BOD that is at least 1/3, 1/4, some number that is POC. How about that?

Apropos of nothing, I bought a new computer. The old one was stuttering and sticking and misbehaving. I got a champagne pink one. It's very pretty.

Don't walk, run to see 'Pain and Glory' by Pedro Almodovar. It is truly a beautiful and beautifully acted film. Antonio Banderas. Penelope Cruz. Other gorgeous actors. I compare it to Moonlight. Really.