Having My Cake and Eating It Too
For my 60th birthday (today!) I soaked in a tub of weightlessness. Floating on what felt like a heated cloud of jiggling jello, I had a cold cloth on my forehead and someone was massaging my feet. I had dinner with a Scottish man who was at John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Bed-in for Peace, and breakfast with a renowned golf course architect and his wife. I sipped a St. Bernardus beer on tap in a pub with titled glasses that looked like they were falling over and tasted skate wing for the first time. 
For my 60th birthday I stayed in a room with aboriginal art and a vase of pink orchids. I met a lovely woman from France and another from Switzerland. I met my daughter-in-law’s sister’s husband’s brother, a couple of fellow local writers, the editor of Blue Ridge Country Magazine, and a reporter from the Chicago Tribune who gave me a pen.
At nearly 3,000 feet above sea level, I wrote in my notebook by a roaring fire, blew out a single blue candle 
on a carrot cake cupcake made my by favorite baker, and opened a present wrapped in bluebird of happiness paper. I looked out onto mountain views covered in rolling mist, and might have seen galaxies and quasars from a telescope in an observatory that looks like a silo if it hadn’t been so foggy last night. Joe might have played golf, but because it was raining he took a rain check.
There is no rain check for turning 60.
Post notes: All this happened at Primland Resort, off the Blue Ridge Parkway in the next county over from Floyd, where I was invited to cover a story on their new spa (see HERE). This is the backstage story teaser. The second photo is of the dry float soft pack I tried. Hopefully I’ll catch my breath soon. Stay tuned!
May 17th, 2010 7:23 pm
Happy Birthday, Colleen!
What a wonderful way to spend it – every detail sounds ideal and memorable.
I love the new look (at least to me) of your blog; it’s clean and crisp and delicately tinted. Really nice.
I hope when I turn 50 (next year) I can experience a day as pleasant and planned for posterity as yours.
I’ll be back for the rest.
Kat
May 17th, 2010 8:08 pm
Happy Birthday, Colleen…
I ope the year treats you as well as the day did.
May 17th, 2010 8:23 pm
You’re 60?!?
I’ll just say this, and you can consider this my present to you – and totally truthful, too.
You are one HOT 60 year old babe! I’m looking at your photo above, and you’d be hot for a 35 year old. Really. You would.
Congrats on your birthday from someone who just discovered your blog. Best wishes, and I’ve now got to check out your other entries. Like the lady says – Hippo bird day two ewe!
May 17th, 2010 8:26 pm
Happy birthday, Colleen. You make 60 look like a beautiful adventure!
May 17th, 2010 9:46 pm
A great way to spend a birthday! Happy Birthday Colleen! To a year of wonder and warmth!
May 17th, 2010 10:10 pm
Happy Birthday again and what a nice way to spend it.xoxo
May 18th, 2010 1:41 am
wo0o ho0o, girlie! happy new decade….hope this is the best one yet! sounds like you started it off with a thrill!
May 18th, 2010 2:58 am
Hiya hun – felt I just had to wish you a very happy 60th birthday – I was shocked because you look more like 50!!
Hope you had a lovely day xxx
May 18th, 2010 5:16 am
I knew there was a reason I should have attempted a writing career! Happy Birthday my dear blog friend!
May 18th, 2010 8:42 am
what a lovely way to spend a birthday collie,,my idea of heaven.i should plan on doing somethig like that for my 80th next february…sending birds of happiness your way along with blessings xxx pat
May 18th, 2010 8:56 am
Thanks, everyone! I don’t usually broadcast my age, (and often lie by one year) but I guess the whole Primland experience loosened me up enough to let go of all that!
May 18th, 2010 11:29 am
Happy Birthday Colleen!
It sounds like you had a wonderful time, and you definitely deserve it! I hope this next year brings you even more happiness, love, and fulfillment.
May 18th, 2010 3:28 pm
A BELATED HAPPY BIRTHDAY, My Dear Colleen…It sounds like a full fun day. And what could be netter than being pampered at a Spa….!
May 18th, 2010 3:33 pm
Happy Birthday Colleen. Sounds like a wonderful day and I was lapping up your exquisite details of your spa day and surrounding. I turned 60 in November and my kids had a surprise card shower. The surprise was on me when I started getting nice letters a month before my birthday and decided I must be dying and no one told me as I was getting mail from people who would have only written if indeed I was dying!
Remember my sweet Colleen : The older the fiddle the sweeter the tune.
May 18th, 2010 5:22 pm
[…] The little boy, whose birthday is three days before mine, joins me in saying thank you for all the birthday wishes, gifts, and fun. Two-year old Bryce in his own words: HERE. My birthday post is HERE. […]
May 18th, 2010 7:16 pm
I am so glad you were born!
May 18th, 2010 7:22 pm
Ditto and visa versa mara. xo
May 20th, 2010 1:45 am
Haven’t visited in ages and look: I know now why I had to drop by for a visit- Happy belated birthday!! glad you had a wonderful day!!
May 20th, 2010 10:38 am
Can you feel all those years?Because I have lost about 30 somewhere..sk
May 25th, 2010 10:15 pm
[…] I’m not on the wagon yet. Can you blame me? Read my birthday post HERE and […]
May 26th, 2010 2:14 pm
Yea, Colleen!!!! May the rest of your life be as wonderful as this time seems to be. You seem truly happy, and I am glad to be sharing it with you. If expressing yourself creatively keeps you young, you are on the road of a long and lively life.
June 7th, 2010 3:24 pm
[…] Note: For more information about The Spa at Primland visit http://www.primland.com, call 866-960-7746 or 276-222-3800, or email info@primland.com. Read my back story on my experience at the Spa HERE. […]
May 16th, 2012 10:14 pm
[…] 9. For my 60th birthday I soaked in a tub of weightlessness. Floating on what felt like a heated cloud of jiggling jello, I had a cold cloth on my forehead and someone was massaging my feet. I had dinner with a Scottish man who was at John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Bed-in for Peace, and breakfast with a renowned golf course architect and his wife. I sipped a St. Bernardus beer on tap in a pub with titled glasses that looked like they were falling over and tasted skate wing for the first time. Read the conclusion to my 60th birthday post HERE. […]
January 8th, 2014 11:24 pm
[…] On my 60th birthday I had dinner with a man who was at John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Bed-in for Peace. The Bed-in was […]