Getting old ... my way

I celebrated another birthday an indeterminate number of days ago, and one of my children topped off the day by informing me, "You're only 9 years away from being old, Mom."

Ha! I'm way further than that from being old.

Right?

Then this morning I discovered that my routine has gotten a little more solidified these days.

*I like a certain type of spoon for my breakfast cereal and will dig through the drawer/dishwasher to find it.

*I have an optimal "milk moment" for that same cereal - when it's not too crunchy any more but not yet approaching soggy.

*I prefer when the comics and crossword are on the back page of a newspaper section and not hidden in the middle where it's harder to find and fold to my specifications. And if it's hidden for too many days in a row, I get a little testy.

*The shower can be before or after breakfast, but preferably not before 7am or after 9am (the beauty of being a writer is that I can choose to work in my PJs if I want to, but I've found there's a limit to the amount of warm fuzzy my brain can take before it just wants to sleep again.)

*I do have at least a fleeting thought about comfortable shoes each morning. Don't always give in but there's mental math sometimes about # of hours on feet x type of activity x chances to rest - is this a place I can kick my shoes off if need be + what lingering effects I might be feeling after yesterday's shoes ...

The good news is I'm still pretty flexible after 9 am. But maybe I should start writing these things down so the kids have the list ready for the home.

When it's time, of course. Because I'm not old yet.