Reflections on Turning 43
Recently, I had a birthday, turning 43. Not one of those “milestone” birthdays necessarily, but a birthday is a birthday, right?
My actual birthday was rather low-key. I had the good fortune of having my birthday fall on a Saturday, and it seems like that happens much less frequently than every 6 or so years, which you would assume would happen. I’m sure it does happen like that, it just seems like it has been a while. Which must mean that I am not getting old, because old people always say, “It seems like just yesterday,” right?
Last week when we were recording the newest episode of Beyond the Berm, Matt brought up my birthday, and in the course of the conversation, I mentioned my age. And when I did, 43 suddenly sounded pretty old to me. So on the night of my birthday as we were watching the Olympics, I was pleased to see that the silver medal in Men’s Large Hill Individual Ski Jumping was won by Noriaki Kasai of Japan, and he just happened to be 41 years old. Not quite my age, but it was still nice to see an old guy beating the young guys at a sport. And an actual physical sport at that, not something like Curling. Not that I plan to take up ski jumping any time soon.
Anyway, back to the day. Laura and I had a nice, lazy morning, as Jaylin had spent the night at a friend’s house for the friend’s birthday. We then enjoyed a pizza party with Jaylin’s 5th grade basketball team to celebrate the end of their season. Next, we went to the mall for a while, thinking that there wouldn’t be that many shoppers on the day after Valentine’s Day, but boy were we wrong. Evidently, everyone wanted to be out to enjoy the first sunny, relatively warm day that we have had in a while, and I can’t say that I blame them. But Laura did find some things for her, so that made it worthwhile. After a bit of crowded shopping, we went home and watched the Olympics for a while, before launching into our usual “Get Ready for Sunday Church” routine. And I caught up with the myriads of birthday notices on Twitter and Facebook, too, which helped the day feel more special. So maybe it wasn’t a thrill-a-minute day, but I don’t think that is actually my style, anyway.
To top it off, Jaylin made me a great card - a pop-up Captain America card. What could be better than that?
That’s Captain America on the right and Falcon on the left, if you didn’t know.
Laura said Jaylin worked hard on the pop-up part. I love it.
So yes, it was a really good birthday. But I think I will wait a year before I do it all again and get any older.
