Huh … so my 75th birthday fell on Thanksgiving this year. Yup, 75 years old — three quarters of a century!

A mere 25 years ago, I was skydiving. Now it takes me 10 minutes to decide whether I can safely negotiate a sidewalk curb.

I’ve had two falls this past year. However, one was most fortuitous (notice the big word) because doctors found seven aneurysms in my brain when they sent me for an MRI.

So what did I decide to do on this special birthday? I planned to spend it in the exotic port of Laguna Woods Village in laundry room #81. I figured the laundry room would be available because people would be with family and friends on Thanksgiving.

And I have no family here. My bad — I was the one who chose to move from North Dakota (where my family still lives) to California (where the sun shines and it doesn’t get to 43 below with the wind chill factor).

Anyhow, I’m so thankful that my neighbor and friend, Kathy Rath, reined me back in from going to the laundry room and said I should relax and enjoy the day. So I spent the day with my very good friend, Julia Smith, and had a great visit and a lot of fun.

More Thanksgiving prayers of gratitude:

Thank you for my good friend Elaine Williams constantly nagging me — I mean suggesting out of concern for my safety — that I take a Saddleback College Emeritus Balance and Fall Prevention class, since I fall down and go boom a lot.

Thank you, Charlotte Art, for your patience with me and letting me use your computer for hours upon hours. (I’m sure there were times you wanted to hit me over the head with a baseball bat.)

I also want to give a shout-out to a wonderful Stater Bros. employee, a kind senior gentleman named Robert. Robert noticed that I was parked in a handicapped space a few months back and had a bit of a struggle getting out of the car — and not a shopping cart in sight. So he took a cart and marched it right over to me.

Now, I’m not the sort of person who cries very much during sad movies and Budweiser commercials and such. But when I was telling the manager about this experience — you guessed it — I started crying and could hardly stop.

So anyway, happy Thanksgiving. Yeah, and I know it’s over, but don’t tell Lucy (my adorable little puppy) because sometime next week Lucy is going to wear her turkey outfit, and we’re going out to deliver Thanksgiving cards to some of our friends.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone from Diane and Lucy (woof).

Diane Duray is a Laguna Woods Village resident. Contact her at [email protected].