Birthday.
I am at the age when celebrating your birthday isn't much of a big deal. I spent my birthday yesterday relaxing, watching some favorite old movies, snuggling my dogs, eating my favorite foods, and watching the rain out my window. We went to dinner at a fun little tapas bar not far from our house, and went to bed early.
It's funny, when your birthday happens, you feel like you're a year older, but you're not. You're only a day older than you were the day before your birthday. I've always thought it was kind of funny how, if someone has lived 29 years and 364 days, they'll still report their age as 29. You're not thirty until that final day in the year passes. It's not logical at all.
And when you pass the thirty years and counting mark, people try to say comforting things on your birthday. "You're not getting older, you're getting better." Yeah, right. I'm getting better except for my bum knee and my creaky hip, not to mention my crows feet and age spots. "You're only as old as you feel." If that's true, then there are some days I'm about fifty years old.
Truly, though, it's not so bad getting older. Sure, you've got fewer years ahead of you, but you've also learned how not to waste your time on needless worrying, or snarky people, or doing things you don't enjoy. You make the most of your time, and that's really what life is all about. That saying, "Youth is wasted on the young," is kind of true. If I could go back to that young, resilient body, I'd treat it with more care, and I wouldn't waste precious minutes on people, jobs, or pastimes that suck my soul. But I've made it past the age of turbulence. I'm settled with a good man and two good dogs, and on the whole, even though I don't like what's happening to my poor old skin, I'm about twice as happy as I was when I was in my twenties. So far, life just keeps getting better. So bring on those birthdays. I'm ready for them.
It's funny, when your birthday happens, you feel like you're a year older, but you're not. You're only a day older than you were the day before your birthday. I've always thought it was kind of funny how, if someone has lived 29 years and 364 days, they'll still report their age as 29. You're not thirty until that final day in the year passes. It's not logical at all.
And when you pass the thirty years and counting mark, people try to say comforting things on your birthday. "You're not getting older, you're getting better." Yeah, right. I'm getting better except for my bum knee and my creaky hip, not to mention my crows feet and age spots. "You're only as old as you feel." If that's true, then there are some days I'm about fifty years old.
Truly, though, it's not so bad getting older. Sure, you've got fewer years ahead of you, but you've also learned how not to waste your time on needless worrying, or snarky people, or doing things you don't enjoy. You make the most of your time, and that's really what life is all about. That saying, "Youth is wasted on the young," is kind of true. If I could go back to that young, resilient body, I'd treat it with more care, and I wouldn't waste precious minutes on people, jobs, or pastimes that suck my soul. But I've made it past the age of turbulence. I'm settled with a good man and two good dogs, and on the whole, even though I don't like what's happening to my poor old skin, I'm about twice as happy as I was when I was in my twenties. So far, life just keeps getting better. So bring on those birthdays. I'm ready for them.
posted by Amy at 8:56 AM
2 Comments:
Hell yeah Sista!!
Great post, I will bookmark it for my birthday. :)
The day older thing is a great philosophical thought experiment. It is paradoxical. It is commonly called the heap problem. At what point (and is it a single point - a single grain? just some chaff?) where a pile becomes a heap? Vague predicates and all. How old is old? How bald is bald?
In your case: on what day do you become old?
If you want to really geek out on this: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/sorites-paradox/
OH! Had happy belated birthday!
Ciara
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