On this, my Day of Days, I ask myself, What is the importance of a birthday? I think of my 21,185 days of living (including Leap Year days) in the context of the wide variety of people I’ve met who have, to one degree or another, influenced my decisions and actions.
This is not a day of melancholy any more than I allow it to be on Holidays. I reserve those thoughts for every other day of the year for, if I should lump them all in one huge bundle of sorrow, floodgates might open and, as with most aspects of life, I prefer not to go with the flow. Which is not to say there are no periods of waterfalls. I might reflect on a few moments of the past but looking through the rearview mirror of time I’m assured that what is left behind is thoughtfully preserved for clearer visions of the future.
To whose standards are my “successes” put to judgment? Opportunists would discount my accomplishments for a single chance to claim their own perceived successes that they may gain from my materialism. In contrast, others would think of my life an insignificant existence as compared to theirs. But it is I who ultimately assesses my degree of worth.
Disappointments? People. Among those I’ve met, there are many whom I hadn’t the opportunity to really know - sometimes an acquaintance who was intended to be a friend remains a stranger. But I don’t regret having crossed paths with people who may have done me emotional and/or physical harm, without which I would have learned fewer lessons and taught me less about my inner-selves. Adversaries play a part in the development of a person’s attitudes just as much as those who have proven to be of positive influences.
I am who I am. I will be whoever I allow myself to become. I will continue to have experiences instead of dreams, fulfillment rather than regrets. If I were a different person, I might mistakenly regret that I have fewer “things” than others. That which I encounter, I cherish as lessons learned in the school of life, from which graduation comes in the form of a death certificate, not a certification of life.
Many of life’s instructors, including Guilt and Jealousy, have taught me that I have much more to learn. I’m so grateful that community players of my childhood implanted in me values whereby my subconscious dictates my actions.
Music has also molded many of my emotions and enhanced my awareness. It continues to take my mind where I would otherwise not visit; melodies give me rhythm, lyrics give me insight to philosophical dilemmas. I am not a singer. I am not a songwriter. I am an accompanist.
Regardless of my biological age, my spirit remains as youthful in mind as in the past. Wrinkles mark my age to others, but the reflection I see in the mirror discounts their importance for I accept the genetic footprints that have structured the wear and tear that life has dealt to my mind and body, if not my soul.
What’s the importance of my birthday? That I shall live on for an unknown period of time. That I am more a statistic than the person I am, have been or will be. That within a pre-subscribed number of years I will be on Social Security and given whatever benefits Medicare will afford my health. That the count of candles on the cake seems more indicative of my age than the two-digit numerical figure.
What of the future? I fear not the unknown because today is indeed the first day of the rest of my life. I accept that which I have no control over, yet take control and thoughtfully consider the challenges I may encounter that will change the course of my remaining years.
I travel along a road named Ronald Alan Rae – by design, a one-way dead end street. There have been no detours. I have traveled along many side streets, some mired with hazards, and made many stops to get my bearings on which direction to proceed so as to keep me on a journey filled with adventures. Compromises are made out of brotherly love. Sacrifices are mine to make.
Death has the right of way. My Creator has eminent domain. I have the rest of my life to travel along whatever avenues that fate will allow. I am alive, so I shall live and reserve the future past tense for others to acknowledge.
Excuse me, but my birthdays are but momentary landmarks in time. I’ve gotta move on…. I’ve still gotta lot of livin’ to do!
Showing posts with label birthdays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label birthdays. Show all posts
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Today's Birthdays, Tomorrow's Memories
As a morning dose of entertainment I eventually turn to Page 2 of the Tampa Tribune where the latest lottery numbers are printed in the center of the page, a column by Television Critic Walter Belcher at the top and a celebrity rag sheet to the right with all that’s going on with those beautiful people in the entertainment fields. (Tony Dow will have a spot in the Louvre displaying one of his original abstract sculptures!)
Just below the deeds and misdeeds of celebrities, there’s a daily listing of Today’s Birthdays covering well-known professionals from all walks of life. Producers, directors, actors, actresses, sports figures, politicians, etc. Only the birthdays of the living are listed.
It’s become a morning mind exercise that leads to personal memories of events that might help be make a thoughtful guess on the age of each celebrity.
Take for instance, on November 5, Bryan Adams and Ryan Adams, who aren’t related, shared the same birthday. A very unique coincidence and particularly of interest because both are listened to often. Let’s take Bryan: recollection puts one of this first hit tunes Cuts Like a Knife somewhere in the early ‘80s shortly after moving from West Chicago, IL, to Santa Monica, CA, in 1981. That was 27 years ago, so assuming Bryan may have been maybe around 20 – simply because he looked young and many artists make their initial entry into the music scene once they’ve entered adulthood. My guess added 20 + 27 to equal 47 years old in 2008. Not bad since he was actually 48!
Ryan Adams, of course, is much younger with just a few years in the limelight whith music I consider alternative-rock-folk music, although the paper referenced his work as alternative-country. Maybe, but on his 2007 CD Easy Tiger some of the music reminded me of Neil Young; similarly, I never considered Neil a country singer.
Although Ryan’s CDs typically hide his face either with hair hanging down, or his face directed away from the camera, I figured maybe five years ago he was probably 20 when he released Love Is Hell. So, 20 + 5 would put him at the age of 25. A fairly shy cry from his actual 33 years.
Walter Cronkite had a birthday on Election Day 2008. Going back to the 60’s with recollections of his emotions on the assassination of JFK (1963) and the landing on the moon (1969) that would be 40-45 years ago when he may have been about 40, so the guess was about 85 years old – a poor guess since he turned 92 this year.
[My thoughts usually revisit certain periods of time when there was a memorable personal event, such as Neil Armstrong’s moon walk in the same era as a lone movie date to see 2001: A Space Odyssey and the Beatles’s songs Hey Jude, Get Back and Come Together.]
For another instance, Prince Charles was born on November 14 but, since he’s never been a person of interest in my life and I really didn't care, I just figured he had to be close to a decade older than myself. My guess was 65 although he was actually 60. My goal is to be within 3 years of each person's age.
Too often there are names I don’t recognize, such as actor Josh Duhamel (who? movies? or TV?) – 36. Former UN Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali? 86 yrs. Rapper E-40? 41 yrs. Rachel Appleton? 15. Holly Valance? 25. Kip Pardue? 32. Whatever! They all get a “I don’t know that one.”
There's a personal interest when a person's age is close to my own. In addition to myself, others in the not-quite-sixty group including Elvira, Charo, Ozzie Obsourne, Jay Leno, Robin Williams, Jessica Lange, Cheryl Ladd and Dr. Phil.
Just a few minutes in the morning and the windmills of my mind get the brain a-stirrin', with reflections on people, places and events that mark the years leading up the this time in my life. As the day progresses, who knows, the day’s activities may be remembered years from now when I relate an experience to a name on Today’s Birthdays.
Just below the deeds and misdeeds of celebrities, there’s a daily listing of Today’s Birthdays covering well-known professionals from all walks of life. Producers, directors, actors, actresses, sports figures, politicians, etc. Only the birthdays of the living are listed.
It’s become a morning mind exercise that leads to personal memories of events that might help be make a thoughtful guess on the age of each celebrity.
Take for instance, on November 5, Bryan Adams and Ryan Adams, who aren’t related, shared the same birthday. A very unique coincidence and particularly of interest because both are listened to often. Let’s take Bryan: recollection puts one of this first hit tunes Cuts Like a Knife somewhere in the early ‘80s shortly after moving from West Chicago, IL, to Santa Monica, CA, in 1981. That was 27 years ago, so assuming Bryan may have been maybe around 20 – simply because he looked young and many artists make their initial entry into the music scene once they’ve entered adulthood. My guess added 20 + 27 to equal 47 years old in 2008. Not bad since he was actually 48!
Ryan Adams, of course, is much younger with just a few years in the limelight whith music I consider alternative-rock-folk music, although the paper referenced his work as alternative-country. Maybe, but on his 2007 CD Easy Tiger some of the music reminded me of Neil Young; similarly, I never considered Neil a country singer.
Although Ryan’s CDs typically hide his face either with hair hanging down, or his face directed away from the camera, I figured maybe five years ago he was probably 20 when he released Love Is Hell. So, 20 + 5 would put him at the age of 25. A fairly shy cry from his actual 33 years.
Walter Cronkite had a birthday on Election Day 2008. Going back to the 60’s with recollections of his emotions on the assassination of JFK (1963) and the landing on the moon (1969) that would be 40-45 years ago when he may have been about 40, so the guess was about 85 years old – a poor guess since he turned 92 this year.
[My thoughts usually revisit certain periods of time when there was a memorable personal event, such as Neil Armstrong’s moon walk in the same era as a lone movie date to see 2001: A Space Odyssey and the Beatles’s songs Hey Jude, Get Back and Come Together.]
For another instance, Prince Charles was born on November 14 but, since he’s never been a person of interest in my life and I really didn't care, I just figured he had to be close to a decade older than myself. My guess was 65 although he was actually 60. My goal is to be within 3 years of each person's age.
Too often there are names I don’t recognize, such as actor Josh Duhamel (who? movies? or TV?) – 36. Former UN Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali? 86 yrs. Rapper E-40? 41 yrs. Rachel Appleton? 15. Holly Valance? 25. Kip Pardue? 32. Whatever! They all get a “I don’t know that one.”
There's a personal interest when a person's age is close to my own. In addition to myself, others in the not-quite-sixty group including Elvira, Charo, Ozzie Obsourne, Jay Leno, Robin Williams, Jessica Lange, Cheryl Ladd and Dr. Phil.
Just a few minutes in the morning and the windmills of my mind get the brain a-stirrin', with reflections on people, places and events that mark the years leading up the this time in my life. As the day progresses, who knows, the day’s activities may be remembered years from now when I relate an experience to a name on Today’s Birthdays.
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