Birthdays

The pandemic has altered our lives, but one thing that hasn’t changed is the fact that birthdays have not stopped. They still come around on a regular basis. We may not celebrate the way we did just a few months ago, but we still age and birthdays don’t let us forget.

There are countless sayings about age, for example that it’s just a number, but the one I like best is that the higher the number the faster it shows up. Those of us of a certain age can certainly feel that each new birthday appears to spring up faster and faster. What is scarier, however, is when your children talk about how old they are and your grandchildren bemoan how fast time flies.

In my family the age difference of siblings is wide. An older sister who married young has children who are now retired. A bit of a shock for me because I never imagined that I could ever become a retiree’s auntie!

Even if time seems to go faster as we age, we are all in the same boat and each day is a blessing. Birthdays should make us aware of the danger of rusting physically and emotionally especially in the current pandemic. A birthday is another chance to find new ways of living with zest without forgetting to laugh because a day when we have not laughed is a wasted day.

Even if my grandson no longer asks me if I am younger or older than 100, I can still take steps to one day reach that number.