
I have turned 70.
I can’t believe it!
A long time ago, a fortune teller told me I probably live till 60 but do not live long.
I do not believe it seriously, but it stays in my mind when I hear something like that, so I did not forget about it.
Since I was born, I have had many near-death experiences, so it may be a miracle that I am still alive and enjoying a fulfilling life. I try to live each day with gratitude.
Now that I’m 70, I can definitely feel my body aging. I have aches and pains all over my body, and I often find myself looking for things every day because I can’t find them, but for some reason, I feel young at soul and mostly upbeat.
I don’t feel that old yet, so isn’t 70 that old after all?
However, compared to when I was younger, I’ve become calmer, so I guess that’s the benefit of age.
I did many things when I was younger, like skydiving, scuba diving, and bungee jumping.
Now I’m satisfied with my situation, have no desire to do anything extreme, and enjoy relaxing each day.
It may be just me aging.
After my 69th birthday, I told Eric I wanted to go to Europe, specifically Rome (Italy), to celebrate my 70th birthday and made a plan with him.
Going to Rome has been on my bucket list since I saw Audrey Hepburn in “Roman Holiday” when I was 9 years old.
The movie was released in 1953 before I was born, so I do not remember how I watched it, but it must have been with my father since he loved to see foreign movies and took me to many French movies, too.
In 1997, I went to Europe for three weeks alone, cooking at macrobiotic centers and helping out at cooking classes. I also went to several places in Italy, but my luggage was stolen on the train from Venice to Rome, so I didn’t go to Rome. Eric didn’t go to Rome when he was working in Italy, so I showed him Audrey Hepburn’s “Roman Holiday,” he liked the scene where she toured Rome on a Vespa.
But our beloved eldest golden retriever, Lumi, is 15 years old.

Lumi two weeks ago at dog family gathering.
She had a heart attack in December and a weakened lung in February, so we don’t know how long she can live.
Lumi still eats well and lives a relaxed life but needs help getting up because of arthritis. We tried to get her to wear diapers, but she didn’t like it. She has a pride who gets up and tries to go outside to the bathroom, even in a diaper.
But I understand how she feels.
She takes homeopathic and Chinese medicine every day. I massage her legs and spine daily and give her moxibustion, making her feel good.
She’s a precious family member, so we do our best to make sure she lives his life to the fullest.
So, we decided not to go to Rome or Europe.
Eric asked me what I wanted to do for my 70th birthday.
My favorite thing to do is to spend time in nature with my whole family: Eric, our dogs (Lumi, Nalu, Kai, Lani, Makani), and our cats (Tin Tin and Mai Mai).
I asked Eric to take all of us on a camping trip to one of our favorite places, Morro Bay State Park.
Going camping with five dogs and two cats, lots of stuff to prepare their food since we make homemade food for them.
But we’ve been camping before, so we know what to do. It just takes time. We can do it.
We stopped by Santa Barbara on the first day to see our good friend Kelly. She just moved to a lovely new house. She had a big persimmon, loquat, guava, and ginko trees.
Kelly loves to use my organic botanical skincare products ( I have been using my organic botanical skincare products for about 20 years).
I look forward to showing her how to make tinctures there.
She took us for lunch at Santa Barbara Yacht Club.
She gave me glass flower bases for my birthday. The box said “Kin.”
I and my first golden retriever, Kin, met her and her golden retriever, Daisy, at the dog beach in Santa Barbara almost 30 years ago.
I appreciate our friendship so much!
We arrived at Morro Bay State Park just before Sunset after Santa Barbara.
We have come to this camping ground before.
It is near the ocean and the Museum of Natural History.
Makani had never come to this campground, but she had been on a camping trip with us before, so she had fun with her dogs family and the cats were relaxing in the kitty condo.
We brought homemade lentil soup for dinner for us.
We had a simple, delicious meal in the van.
I sew the moon and stars with the ocean wind at night, celebrating my last night in my 60s.
The next morning was supposed to be cooler, but it got warmer, and the sun showed the face and whispered, “Happy 70th Birthday, Sanae.”
As Eric was feeding the dog family breakfast, a couple of people passing by were surprised we had many dogs and said, “Wow, five dogs! Dogs are from God!” I thought right away that maybe living with a dog means being protected by God!
After breakfast, we hiked a little and visited the Morro Bay Museum of Natural History.
There were many elementary kids for their field trip.
Beautiful Morro Bay rock!
I love learning about nature and the local habitat. I did not know that Morro Bay was founded in 1870.
We enjoyed there a lot and got an extraordinary seaweed book.
Then, we went to Cuyucos Dog Beach.
This dog beach is Morro Bay Rock in the back of the scene.
It’s the best dog beach I have ever known.
As we got our dogs out of the van, someone said, “Oh, many dogs, dog is God!”
It was the second time people commented on Dog and God that morning.
I know that when our dogs are happy, we are happy, too; it must be God’s work!
We put our recently bought cart on the sand at the beach so that Lumi could enjoy it, too. I pulled the cart for Lumi on the beach.
She couldn’t walk well, but she was happy to feel the breeze and smell the ocean.
Nalu, Kai, Lani, and Makani enjoyed running, chasing each other, and eating seaweed.
After Dog Beach, we went to Cambria to window shop and to a natural food store, where we bought some local boysenberry jam.

Our camping toaster!
Then, Harmony (a small town with a population of 18) where Eric tasted some wine and bought some.
The birthday dinner was at Harbor Hut, one of the oldest restaurants we like to visit in Morro Bay. Eric reserved our favorite seat so we could see the sunset by Morro Bay Rock.
What a precious, thoughtful gift filled my heart.
On this day, I got birthday calls from my friends Masayo, Angel, and Mark. Thank you, everyone!
On the morning of the second day, we decided to go somewhere we’d never been before and headed to a town called Los Osos.
Eric bought some sourdough bread at a local bakery.
We also went to dip in a mineral bath at Avila Spa.
The mineral bath helped ease my legs and lower back pain.
I didn’t have a swimsuit, so I wore black underwear and a tank top (lol).
Then, in the afternoon, we saw another good friend, Laura, who lives nearby. She went to Kushi Institute to learn macrobiotics and used to cook macrobiotic food for my client. We had a late lunch / early dinner at Shine Cafe. We both ordered Tempeh Reuben sandwiches, but they looked different than what we thought. The waiter said they were a tempeh sandwich, and just difference was no sauerkraut this one. Do you want sauerkraut?
Laura and I said at the same time.” Of course, sauerkraut!” and laughed so much!!!
A farmers’ market was nearby, so we walked around and checked local vegetables, fruits, and artist crafts. Laura got a ceramic pin matching my hat – a cute orange bird from a local ceramist for my birthday.
Then, I came up with the idea of getting a foot massage to relax. Eric said no, but I said it was my birthday, so you need to celebrate with a foot massage.
We all got massages and feel so much better.
In the evening, we returned to the campground and talked with Eric’s banana muffin, Los Osos’s sourdough bread, vegan cheese, and kukicha till we got tired.
It was no stressful, simple, happy weekend for my birthday.
Now, I have returned home and connected with the trees and plants in my garden that I have been helping to grow for almost 40 years.
I am happy they are around me and give me a botanical vibe.
Nancy, my frined who live behind us brought me a birthday card and flowers from the garden, and we made plans to go out for sushi.
I got a birthday call from Amanda, a kind friend who remembered my birthday even though she lost everything in the wildfires in January.
My long-time friend, Jessica, took me to a birthday brunch in Marina del. It was a fun time with delicious food.
My longest-time friend (since Pepperdine University), Judy, is taking me to dinner next week; I am lucky to have good friends and feel happy to continue celebrating my 70!
I am grateful to age slowly and find my interest in everyday life to move forward.
Love,
Sanae ❤️