On Birthdays: Why Celebration of Yours Matters

Today I turn 43 years old.

For an adult well past 21, that doesn't seem like something to get excited about. There aren't piles of presents awaiting me (and so there aren't going to be pictures of me being thrilled about getting stuff), and the wild party will be me enjoy my favorite pizza as well as a birthday cake (in the oven as of this post) and some coffee, but I still get excited every year as if I were a child anyway.

You're missing the point, folks. Your birthday is the one day in the year where, for all intents and purposes, it IS about you. Specifically, it's a celebration (especially after your 21st) that the Sandmen haven't gotten you yet. No Carousel for you. (Logan's Run, folks. Read the book.) You're still here, and therefore still able to be there for your friends and family. Still there able to fix what you can, work around what you can't, and therefore to Git Gud at whatever it is you care about.

Your birthday is your day to celebrate the fact that you're still here. Still in the game, in the fight, on the scene- that you are Not done yet. Even if you're old, or infirm, or otherwise near that end you're not there yet and until you do get there you've got something left to do.

That is why it's right and proper to get excited, to celebrate, and mark the occasion. Sure, the presents are great, but they are symbols of the real significance of the day: that you are still here, able to love and be love, and Make Life Great Again.

Yes, even if your life is a worse comedy than Jar-Jar Binks, it's still worth celebrating. You're still alive, so you can still fix it. So have that cake, and let that inner child out to make that celebration as enthusiastic as it can get. You can be stodgy and stoic when you're dead. On this day, be that enthusiastic child again, ready to take on the world and pierce the heavens. Be like this:

And be grateful to still be alive. Until you're shot down, you can still be the Ace of Aces, so go for it. Happy birthday indeed.

(On the off-hand that you'd like to throw a gift at me, check the tab above for relevant links to Amazon and Steam.)