So tomorrow I turn 38. I remember when I was a kid the excitement that marked the approach of my birthday. What would the day bring? What would I get? A whirlwind of emotions followed by the giant let down the next day that school started in a little under two weeks. As I got older, for a while I thought birthdays were something to be feared. While they are a sign of getting older, I'm finding that they're not that big of a deal anymore. They're essentially another day. There isn't anything really big that I want anymore, no ponies or themed parties to get me all riled up. I greatly prefer a quiet day spending time with people I love and doing things I enjoy. Plus I'd rather pour that big event energy into making sure my son gets his heart's desire for his birthday.
This year we'll celebrate by having a mystery date night (which in itself is exciting) and dinner at a local pizzeria with my parents tomorrow night. Throw in a little baseball on TV tomorrow afternoon and what could be better? It got me to realize that as I get older, the big thrill has lost some of its shine. The thrill comes more in those everyday moments that my son provides or the quiet times with my wife doing things we enjoy. I think I'll get more of a thrill this weekend from our quiet plans than I would a party, a big expensive steak, etc.
It all got me to thinking about life in general. I told a friend that today is the 20th anniversary of us moving into the same freshman floor in college. Essentially a bunch of semi-crazed, fully stupid 18 year olds running around like morons. While we're as snarky as ever, his response kind of said it all quite nicely:
That's just an unreasonably long period of time. But I'm sort of happier being older, in a strange way
I couldn't agree more. So happy birthday to the rest of you born on August 21 (I'm looking at you Kenny Rogers). I hope you all get what you want for the day. I'm happy to say that I have already.
