Happy Birthday to Me

Thanksgiving has come and gone and that can only mean one thing for me, my birthday. I can remember a time when having a birthday was a much anticipated event, my children are still in this stage, Chloe (my 6 year old) has already planned her next birthday party right down to the guest list and it's not till August. After this stage we move to the "toleration" stage. This stage happens right after the completion of all the milestone celebrations, you know 18 and "adulthood," 21 which is another legal recognition of adulthood, and then 25 which really means something because your car insurance goes down significantly. After these milestones what do we have left?

Last weekend while visiting away in Knoxville my wife filled out the visitor card and "politely" noted that I only have two more age boxes left to move into on these things. Is this what birthdays have become, just a chance to move up to a different check box? Still, we tolerate our birthdays, young enough to not be bothered by adding a new number and old enough to put it all in perspective.

Some people decide to stop having birthdays. Kind of like that old country song, "Thirty-nine and holding," they simply refuse to acknowledge that they are getting older. But birthdays come and go whether we like it or not so we had better make the best of them.

Just the other day a lady came into Subway to order party trays for her daughter's birthday party. Now this sort of thing happens all the time except for the details of this particular situation. You see "mom" was 84 and her daughter was turning 60!

I've tolerated birthdays for quite some time now but I think I will start embracing them. They are special, a gift from God.

By the way for those who are curious the answer is 38.