Happy Birthday

This is my birthday month. I’m such a fan of birthdays, I love parties, I love cake and I love presents. Though I’m a little old to expect all of those things on my special day, I still love it when it happens. Of course, as we age, birthdays have a different perspective. Instead of a celebration, they also become a day for reflection. Are we living the life we thought we would? Are we making a significant contribution to the world? Do we love and are we loved? I’m fortunate as I answer these questions. My life is so full, my cup runneth over!

Time is another thing we contemplate on our birthdays. Where have the years gone? How did I go from 10 to 20 to almost 50 in the blink of an eye? Middle-age seemed like something that was so far away for such a long time, but if I am middle-aged now, that means I’ll live to be almost a 100. Hmm, maybe I’m not middle-aged anymore, then what to call this time? When I was younger, middle-age meant a time of crisis, frumpy, and generally out of touch. Now that I am middle-aged and beyond, I find that word not useful or descriptive of my life. While I feel in between being young and being old, I don’t have any of the negative feelings I used to associate with being middle-aged. I can’t deny that I don’t see as well as I once did and that my knees make noises that distress me, but there is joy in eyes that have brought me much pleasure and knees that have taken me to great places.

I believe these moments of awareness are better than birthday presents. These are gifts to myself – validations that my life is good and that so far every stage of my life has been the best so far. These realizations will keep me young, for as Henry David Thoreau said, “None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.”

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