Monday, December 25:
My 39 years! R. proposes my health very movingly. I feel how much of me has already died, and how little I must bother myself about myself.
Cosima's Diaries
Diary Entry of December 25, 1876
Overview
On my 39th birthday, R. offered a deeply moving toast to my health. I was struck by the sense that much of me has already died, and that I should trouble myself far less about my own person. The day carried both solemnity and tenderness.