The Almighty AND! *edit in QUOTIDIEN

That's how numbers beyond the 'tenth' goes, when you're French. Twenty AND one, thirty AND one, etc. a reminder that you've moved beyond that decade marker. Maybe that's why I never sweat the decade birthdays....except for the big 3-0. That was also the day my firstborn started kindergarten, so that one doesn't count. The PLUS ONE were the ones I sweated the most. Its like, 'watch out for that first step. Its a doozy!' But the French will not slap you without later blessing you with a kindness. When you hit SEVENTY, you receive a bonus, a return to your teen years: seventy-eleven, seventy-twelve, seventy-thirteen. For a time, I embraced that mentality and was perfect at twenty-twenty. I remained in my twenty for twenty years by this loose use of the numerical rule. Twenty-thirty didn't sound very realistic. Besides, I really started looking too old to be a twenty-anything, and thirty-twenty just sounded backwards.

In French, AND is a two-letter word: et Easily overlooked, yet a necessary hinge for whatever comes next.

Today, I hinge a ONE to fifty's butt.....making me cinquante-ET-un. The sting of 'et' decreases as I age. At first, I thought I had become desensitized. I have since come to believe that I've actually become sensitized to what is most important.

SO, here's to celebrating the AND -the additional, the gift of more, the step forward, the opportunity to grow more, to love more, and to be loved more.

What a glorious day! Beats the alternative.