Happy Birthday to Me

I sincerely want to extend my gratitude to all of my friends and family for providing me with such warm birthday wishes and acknowledging me on my birthday. I really appreciate it.

Now that is over with, I would like to take a moment to say how I feel about birthdays...

As you get older, birthdays become increasingly more depressing. They serve as yearly reminder, an anniversary signifying that you are twelve months closer to death. The fanfare is gone. The colors, the excitement, the balloons, the cake, the wrapping paper, the candles. Done. Over. Once you hit your mid-teens, it is all for naught. Of course, this is with a few glaring exceptions.

• Your 18th birthday: A general sense of excitement and anticipation is readily felt on this momentous day. You are finally legally an adult. You can finally be tried, convicted, and place in a smallish, gray box with someone named "Spike" for the crimes you have committed.
• Your 21st birthday: You are now legally able to imbibe the fruits of the vine. Too bad you probably won't remember it.
• Your 30th birthday: A celebration that you are no longer in your twenties. The self-absorption that you once wore like your favorite pair of jeans must be finally tossed aside. Time to pull on those chinos and don those loafers.
• Your 50th birthday: A birthday with colors shrouded in habiliments the of the grave. The apex of the hill has been reached and there is nowhere to go but down

Perhaps my feelings stem from the fact that I share a birthday month with my oldest daughter. Sarah, who just recently turned four, spent a wonderful day in the autumnal sun with family, friends, and a two-story bounce house that took up the better part of my backyard. To say that she was excited, would be putting it mildly.

I think she finds it strange that when my birthday approaches, just over a week after hers, that I don't meet it head-on with the same zest and enthusiasm.

Ah, the innocence of youth. I should let enjoy her birthday for a few more years. I'll wait until next year to tell her about Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy...