Birthday Present; My 59th Birthday

After four weeks visiting birthdays past, for this final March post, it is time for a birthday present. On Friday I will turn 59, not a particular milestone, or great event, but another birthday I’m grateful to be celebrating. I am not only writing about the present tense but the present I am giving myself for this birthday. Thanks to an ample accumulation of SkyMiles I’ll be spending my birthday with one of my best friends in one of my favorite places. 

None of us knows how long we’ll live, or how many birthdays we have left. I have taken those magazine quizzes that predict your longevity, and according to them, my odds look bleak. My mother died in her thirties, my father didn’t make it to 70. That said I am pretty hale. Except for a scary blip in 2015 my health has been unremarkable, but who knows, there could be a bus somewhere with my name on it.

As I chose my four birthday stories this month I reflected on many other birthdays as well. I’ve had some good ones, some lousy ones, and many I don’t particularly recall. As a kid, I’d start the 90-day countdown to my birthday on January 1st. There was something so satisfying about that 90 days, starting the count on the first day of the year, and ending on the last day of March; the length of a season. I like that March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. I like that the weather is starting to feel and smell like spring on the last day of the month, and I like that I wasn’t born on April Fool’s Day.

I’ve heard there are people who aren’t interested or don’t want much of a fuss made for their birthday. They are clearly more dignified and mature than I. It’s not that I want cake and ice cream, or party hats and streamers, but I want the day to feel special, I want it to matter, and I want a little attention. When I realized my daughter wasn’t going to be around for my birthday this year I decided that rather than sit home feeling sad and sorry, I would do something to make it special. 

For months I’ve been looking for a job, and free time stretched out before me. I had time to go away for a few days, and using miles meant this wouldn’t cost me much. I have been drowning in time, and suddenly I’m not Naturally, as soon as I made these plans I got busy. I am in the process of interviewing for two jobs, and suddenly feeling the crunch of time I haven’t felt in months, but I have today to do the preparation I must for the interview I have the morning after my return. I’ll finish my list of things that must be done, including pack, and head off. I will try to spend this weekend living in the present and enjoying this gift.

I am excited to be going to Boulder. I haven’t seen my friend Erin and her family for too long. I will be with a bunch of people who love me and that is the best present I could wish for.