042 Birthdays

OH, NO!   It’s MY Birthday

Savvy Frances’s blog on 100th birthdays is this week’s inspiration. No, I take that back. Not inspiration--more of a BIG reality check on just how old I am. I am one of those women “of a certain age,” a baby boomer, an AARP member, and a Medicare card holder. 

When I look in the mirror each morning with toothbrush in hand, I wonder where did all those years go? Am I the same person I was twenty years ago? Fifty years ago? I have concluded the answer is both yes and no. 

The basic beliefs I learned from family and community are still the same. In some ways, I am far different than that naïve, people-pleaser I was before teenage years. I do love to “stir the pot” a bit now and then. I find this more and more stimulating to my brain cells as I get older, but not necessarily wiser. 

Now, let’s get to birthdays themselves. About most events in life, I am not a shy person: speaking in front of others, organizing events, meeting new people--no problem.

When it comes to birthdays, however, I want to run and hide. Maybe some psychoanalysis is needed. I am embarrassed being the center of attention for being born on a certain day. I had no and have no control over this!  So, now we are at a time where gifts and parties are expected. 

Gifts are fun, but how did gift-giving and parties become part of birthday traditions? Seems the birthday thing is the result of pagan tradition according to internet searches. Evil spirits lurk on days of personal change – e.g. one’s birthday. Thus, candles were lit and neighbors and family came bearing gifts to appease these spirits. Ancient Greeks believed that each person had a spirit or sign that attended one’s birth. And astrology attached itself to birthdays as well. 

I would say that I do 

not believe in 

astrological signs, 

but aren’t they fun?

I am a Taurus. 

Hmmm, seems to 

describe me 

only too well! 

But Taureans are also hard-working and determined. If you give a Taurus a task, it will get finished. May 2015, said a free online horoscope, would be "filled with job satisfaction" (I am retired!), but "not a good month for relationships . . ."  Interesting and so open to interpretation. 

So this is my decision regarding this year’s birthday. I will NOT obsess about my age. I can’t do anything about it. There is no reason to recall what “might have been” or “what if.” It is what it is! (Enough clichés?) If you are disappointed in a gift or non-gift or receive no birthday greetings from someone special, log-in to your Facebook page. That should hold you for a while! 

And should anyone ask what I want for my birthday – remember money is still green and so is an emerald, the birthstone for May. Just kidding, of course! I really have no “bucket list” of gifts.

Thank you for your good wishes and happy birthday to you, too! 

Glenne