Happy Birthday To Me!!!!!

Sunday was my birthday. Normally I am NOT a birthday person. I find them a tad more retrospective than I can tolerate. Let’s start with the ten pounds I gained since my last birthday. Don’t even talk about surprise parties. My wife threw me a surprise 40th birthday party, and I thought the house was being robbed. All I saw was this round thing pointed out the front door of my house right at me in the dark. Turned out to be a camera!! I thought it was gun. Took three years off my life!

My friend has the opposite attitude. He loves birthdays, especially his own. He says he looks good for his age, feels better than most his age, and there are several his age who no longer have to worry about birthdays, if you get my drift. I envy his attitude.

Notwithstanding, this year is different. This year is a landmark birthday. I turned 62. I can retire!!! So this is what retirement age feels like! And don’t forget all the additional senior discounts that come with the territory. Get me the senior special!!! 20% off at Perkins on Tuesday nights ain’t too shabby!

But you know what? I don’t feel like I am 62. I look in the mirror and say to myself I don’t look like someone who can retire. I know how my uncles looked when they retired. They looked OLD. I don’t look old. Well…maybe my hair is a little…a lot….thinner. And maybe it’s a little grayer…a lot grayer. My belly is – my belly is – well….it could be a lot worse than it actually is. That extender on my pants helps a bit. And I jump out of bed every morning, after I sit on the edge of the bed for ten minutes trying to get the kinks out of my back and some feeling back into my feet, which aren't too swollen…well, my left foot is swollen more than my right, except if I eat salty food and they both swell up, not as bad as mother’s. Maybe close!!! I should buy bigger shoes.

Seriously, this is the first birthday in a long time that I haven’t felt a little funky. In fact, it is just the opposite. I am elated. This is the first time I have been able to look at my life and say I made it. I survived. Each of us reaches that realization at some time. This is mine. Each of our journeys is different. Each of our advantages is different. Each of our crosses is different. Everyone has both. It’s just a matter of the mix.

In my case, the financial and educational advantages given to me were counterbalanced by serious issues in my household growing up that were hidden deep beneath the surface. In this day and age, those issues would not have been allowed to exist, but it was a different time back then. Coming to terms with those issues has been my struggle. But I survived! And God has compensated me many times over for those difficulties. Like I said…it’s all in the mix.

I remember a sermon given by my minister a few years ago. He said to look to the left of you, then look to the right of you, then look around the entire church. Find one person with whom you would want to trade places. It’s funny. Whatever the mix in life each of us had sitting in that church that Sunday morning, not one of us would trade places with another.

This birthday it's time celebrate the triumphs in life. My beautiful wife and great son and I have persevered and succeeded together. Now it's time to bury the past, celebrate the present, and look forward to an exciting future.

Of course, just because I can retire doesn’t mean I will. I am just beginning my life fresh doing things that will hopefully keep me young for years to come, expanding belly and graying hair notwithstanding!! Everyone knows that lawyers never retire. We are like a fungus. With a little ointment you can keep us in check, but we never go away!

So go have a piece of birthday cake on me, or at least a Hostess cupcake before they go out of business.

Happy Birthday to me!!!!