You have a gift from heaven: Ash

What could be better than a birthday made sacred? March 09. Wednesday. Birthday.

Ash Wednesday. It's the first day in the season of Lent. As found in the earliest copies of the Gregorian Sacramentary probably as old as the 8th century, Ash Wednesday was originally called dies cinerum or "day of ashes". In ancient practice, people bathed in ashes and dressed themselves in sackcloth, a very rough material though. The essence of the outer manifestation was to signify inner repentance and mourning. The celebration is universal in most of Christendom, including Catholics, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Anglicans.

For that, Ash Wednesday is a solemn matter and to talk about it all throughout this post, having to mention "repentance" "repentance" "repentance" "repentance" "repentance" "repent" "repent" "repent" "repent" "repent"...is to kill a birthday celebrant. (*lol*)

Today is March 09, not March 08; and "blogger" it's for you to correct your dates. It's my friend's birthday!

Say hello to aging, Kathleen Kamus! I'm right next. Or not.

To tell much about Kat is to tire myself. She's 23!

Alright, "para sa pagkakaibigan". (*lol*)

That we only need two things in this life: hydrogen and stupidity. I believe this "hypothesis"(which sounds somehow true and practical, at least for me) for a conversation which runs between me and Kat; between us and our cups of coffee; between ends of a story of stupidity.

But what's stupidity if it's now just a story we can laugh at? Time died, we never cared about it. We kept talking, debating, agreeing, blaming, praising, laughing and laughing and laughing and laughing and laughing. This is default. Oh, happy friends! And I just laughed at the thought that we never tire of telling the same stories again and again. Goodness gracious!

One thing I love about being with Kat - that I don't have to keep searching for words to defend my side because it's either she understands, without me having to explain, or I don't have to make an effort to defend because she decides that I'm wrong. And we laugh. And then we take a sip of coffee. This is a usual plot.

Another - she cares...in so many different ways. And if I'd have to pick a word for Kat, it's "true". She tells you when you look sort of or very outlandish; when you already look like a mad witch with your unshaved brows; when it seems your feet have had too much of sunbathing; when you're losing your figure to fatness (*ehm*) and all else. And this she can't miss: she tells you when you're stupid.

So what's with Ash Wednesday that blesses my friend's birthday? Well, I leave it at that. It's for my friend to tell...or write.

Here's to our favorite elements, hydrogen and stupidity! You'll always be my stupid friend and you know that. (*lol*)

I LOVE YOU!

From DewBerry with love

Information on Ash Wednesday: Dr. Richard P. Bucher, The History and Meaning of Ash Wednesday