43!

heyyyy!!!!
so,
i'm forty-three years old, now.
yup.
in a row.
back to back to back, for like, ever, i've been stacking up years on years,
and now this is what's up.
i had a heck of a day, too.
i woke up verrrry early,
i fell asleep verrrrry hard, and in between i had all the fun, and twice the pizza.
uh-huh.
my powerful partner breezy came through with all the good berfday bits-
kisses, card, presents, kids, pizza- the works.
she did a double-trek back and forth and back again, just to love me up the best.
and she did and she does.
she's a sophisticated scorpion, a crabby crab,
a howling hurricane of gale-force fury and flavor,
and she cares the most, which feels the best.
my homies, dennis and dylan came through, separately, too.

heck,
even crabtree was a subdued dude all dang day- which was especially welcome
whilst operating on next-to-no-sleep and navigating the world at my advanced age.
we hung out heavy-duty,
and calm or not, he still did his best to ruin any picture
that my face wasn't already responsible for wrecking-
he does not enjoy photos.
i dunno how he even knows what's happening, but i know for sure he HATES it.
anyway,
rules is rules around here, man.
and stay ugly, stay dope is kind of like the motto
of this old busted Folk Life & Liberty Fortress,
from the floorboards to the flora to the garage to our visage-
and we doo-doo that freaky sh!t forever:

FORTY-THREE!!!!!
hmmm?
yeah,
that's a party hat.
what?
well, i was all alone, and i found that tissue paper in the closet-
neighbors, it was a birthday, and y'can't have a birthday without a birthday hat.
that's a thing.
look:

yeah.
it was SO cool, in fact,
that cali wanted one too.
check it:

s'kyoooooooooooot!!!
*
....aaaaand now i'm 43.
which is pretty good.
i don't actually feel all that old.
i notice i'm tired more than i used to be, but that's about all.
my hair is worse, or at least, what's left of it- between changing to colorlessness,
or just plain evacuating my scalp, it's not great.
but that's not so bad.
and i have a weird ankle now.
it looks like it hurts, and it kinda does, but that's cool.
and the glasses. i mean, being able to see at night is pretty good stuff, and i like.
plus glasses make you look smart? that's it.
my hands being mostly crippled is a bit irritating,
but, c'mon,
twenty years of holding heavy vibrating robot pens was bound to have some ill effect.
other than all that, though, i'm spry and spritely and fit as a fiddle, y'feel me?
ha!
it's all really happening, moving forward in time,
traveling to the future with new upgrades, a few failing features,
an expanding family, and expounding understanding of feelings,
and exponential expansion of empathy, i hope,
and an infinite nature that'll allow for all that to exist in one expanse of time and space.
forty three is where i am,
and it's going to be good because it has to be good.
i'm grateful for all of it, because it's all important to the bigger picture,
and that's revealing itself one unfolded fragment at a time-
43 years later, i see a lot more than i used to, for sure;
never quiet, never soft.....