The date today made me think of something that always made me feel special. In many ways, I know I was a strange child.When I was about nine years old, I discovered two extraordinary things.The first was that when I turned ten, I would have a double-digit age for a very long time ahead. The precious uniqueness of a single-digit age was nearly over. Only if I lived to be a hundred would I be special again. Until then, I would be ordinary. Two digits. 10, 11, 12, 13 ... All the way to 99. I was so struck by this notion that I cried on my tenth birthday.The other extraordinary thing I discovered as a nine-year-young girl was that many, many years later, my birthday would fall on a very special day - 10.11.12. I was thrilled at the idea. At nine, though, I had a long, long way to go, but I was tremendously excited about the fact that one day in the distant future, I would have a … [Read more...]