This pic sums it up perfectly–did anyone else notice that there is a broken heart in the center of the balloons?<\/p><\/div>\n So, here\u2019s what\u2019s been happening: My birthday is on a Saturday, for the first time in five years. The last time that happened, five years ago, I had planned a wonderful big party, because it was the week-end night, and then my mother died three weeks earlier, on Christmas Day. So, of course, there was no way I was going to have a party just three weeks after that devastation. [Note: several \u201cpals\u201d gave me the baloney that my just-deceased little mo would \u201cwant\u201d me to have it, anyway, just because they<\/em> wanted to come to a happening soir\u00e9e! Eww. So, obviously, they\u2019ve been permanently cut-off the ever-growing guest list.]<\/p>\n And then I\u2019ve never felt like having one again, even though I used to have extravaganzas every year. I miss them somewhat, but just could not get back into throwing them after that, perhaps because it was on just normal days.<\/p>\n![\"Featured-Images-NEIL-SEDAKA\"](\"http:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Featured-Images-NEIL-SEDAKA.jpg\")
<\/a>But the absolutely fabulous<\/em> news is how I\u2019m spending my actual<\/em> birthday on Saturday\u2014I\u2019m going to the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills to see Neil Sedaka, my home boy! (We\u2019re both from the same area of Brooklyn; he went to Lincoln High School, as did my father, who eventually taught there, and Neil even lived around the corner from my grandmother for awhile.) Everything about the upcoming experience is exciting to me. As soon as I received the news that I\u2019m going to the show, I instantly got some pep in my step. I\u2019ve been so depressed about my impending b-day, for so many reasons, and this cheered me right up!<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>So, this year, when I realized that January 14 falls on a Saturday again, I immediately began planning another fabulous fete. But as it\u2019s been coming down to the wire, I realized, in all seriousness, that I can\u2019t<\/em> have one because of the political climate in this country right now. I do<\/em> actually have some very good friends who are Trump supporters, (I know, I seriously cannot fathom it myself, but I can\u2019t break-up with them over one situation, no matter how egregious,) and I just could not leave them out. So, I have a feeling my guests would come to blows if put in the same room, and that would be a horrible birthday situation. (What a sad reason to give-up my birthday celebration, right? Just another tiny bit of fall-out from the rigged election.)<\/p>\n