I just had a big birthday. One that ends with a 0. My childhood memories of this age have everything to do with old people. The gray-haired, slow-walking, hip-breakers who roamed the Earth with the dinosaurs. They talked about strange things and smelled funny and seemed to live every minute on the edge of death (and extinction).
Now I’m one of them, those old people.
Honestly, I was dreading my birthday. My wife kept asking me what I wanted to do for the big day, and I kept answering, “Pretend it’s not happening.” She kept asking, I kept avoiding. I honestly didn’t know what I wanted to do for the day, but I knew I didn’t want to get any older. Avoidance seemed the only option.
Then the day came, and I somehow found myself with a list of things I wanted to do. So...I did them. Here’s what I did for my big bad day:
- I learned something. I watched most of Annie Liebowitz’s Master Class on photography. I love taking pictures, but I’ve gotten away from it in recent years. When we started creating this website, I realized how long it’s been since I’ve taken serious pictures. Or more accurately, since I've taken pictures seriously. So I watched and I learned some things and I was amazed by how good she is…
- I worked on something I enjoy doing. I’m a writer. I love the act of writing. By accident, a decade ago I stumbled into writing fiction. Since that time, I’ve become a novelist. Not a published one yet, at least as I write this. But I hope to eventually see some of the novels I can’t stop writing make it into print. So I spent a few hours working on my latest project...
- I got some exercise. Whoever it was who said, "home exercise machines are a testament to consumer gullibility" was so right. We’ve had a bunch of exercise machines over the years—like a Nordic-Rack and an Elliptical-Rack and even, way back when, a Soloflex-Rack—and each of them spent most of its life holding clothes rather than inspiring exercise. Then I got a rowing machine. For some reason, rowing doesn’t feel like miserable exercise to me, so I’ve been doing it every other day for about two years. I’m not heading to the Olympics, but I can cook out about 7000 meters in a little over thirty minutes, so I’m not dead yet. We also took our dog out for a long walk. So I got some exercise as I try and stay "young." (Old or not, I will never be this young again!)
- I spent time with people I care about. Family and friends… What would life be without them? I had a nice meal and great laughs with dear friends and family.
- I ate something delicious and decadent. For me, that’s chocolate cake. It’s gotta be THE chocolate ganache cake from Fresh Market. Wow, that’s good stuff. SOOoo good. (And there are left-overs!)
- I felt thankful to be here. Aging isn't easy, but the old joke about it being “better than the alternative” seems true. So I said a little prayer of thanks for reaching the age of the dinosaurs of my youth--and I had a really great birthday.
As I head toward my future __0 birthdays, I think I’ll try something like this each year. My list may be a little different as I go, but I’ll still find some things that fit the day and do them. And I’ll celebrate each new year like I did this year.
So, yes, I had another big birthday. But I hardly look a day older than I did yesterday.