Almost here - my 'use it or lose it' birthday...

Tomorrow is the big day, happy birthday to me!

I can't wait to hand out my birthday cupcakes in the Legislative Building in Raleigh.

Some have told me that they think that this is a strange way to celebrate arriving at the big 66 but I think it is the only reasonable manner in which to honor those who have come before and after me. That's really what birthdays should be about.

My 17-year-old grandson, Justin Varner, has long had a desire to serve his county by joining the military so he can help to protect our freedoms. He has chosen the Army and will enter boot camp 11 months from now. He used early enlistment to get the MOS he wants - medic. I don't think he knows that when his great-grandmother joined the Women's Army Corps during World War II, that also was her first MOS. So he is carrying on family traditions of both protecting our freedoms and helping others.

I obviously can't join him in enlistment but if he is willing to give up college so that he can help defend our freedoms, then I have a responsibility to exercise them.

And that is what I will be doing tomorrow at the Legislative Building. I will share my birthday while I support the protesters' right to be in that building and to demonstrate their frustration with the actions of the General Assembly. I have read the rules governing the building and I see nothing that suggests that the protesters have violated any of them. It is a public building, they are the public and have a right to be inside until the General Assembly adjourns in the evening.

Those who are arrested are told that they have to promise not to enter the building again until after their court dates. How can someone be held under arrest for not agreeing to impose a restraining order on themselves? And how is it possible that anyone is asked to give up their Civil Rights when they have not been found guilty of anything?

While I'm in the Legislative Building, I'm going to see if I can get some answers to those questions and, if so, will share them with you on  a future blog.

A doctor recently told me to exercise more - "If you don't use it, you lose it," he said. I think that applies to our Civil Liberties so I'm going to exercise mine on a more regular basis starting tomorrow.