In a couple days, it will be my birthday. Not a big one or one of the magic number days that end in 0. Just a birthday.
For some reason, I always get a little bit moody around my birthday, though. It’s not about getting older. As they say, it beats the alternative. And I’ve never been one to think back on high school as my “glory days”. I had fun in my teen years and I’ve had fun ever since. A lot of the time, when someone tries to talk to me about what we did “back in the day”, I don’t have a clue if they’re telling the truth or not. I’ve put those days behind me.
Musical Side note: Bruce Springsteen’s “Glory Days” is not about what many people think it is about. Great song, but it’s really fairly depressing if you listen to the lyrics. It is about people thinking their best days are behind them. And don’t get me started on “Born in the USA” from that same album… I’ve always liked the Jimmy Buffet song “A Pirate Looks at 40” about a man who feels like an “over-40 victim of fate” but I’ve never identified with it personally.
No, I think my birthday-related moodiness has more to do with having a summer birthday. I was born in the summer of 1967, known at the time as the “Summer of Love”. In school, summer birthdays sort of got forgotten. My school friends were always on vacation or doing something else when my birthday rolled around so birthday parties were not that well attended. On top of that, my older brother’s birthday is the day after mine so we grew up sharing birthdays. (Okay, it’s possible I’m still harboring some issues from my childhood, “glory days” or not…)
If I were a numerologist, I would think of this as my lucky year. Normally there are three sevens in my birthday, but I’m 47 this year, so there is a fourth. Realistically, on our birthdays, we should be celebrating our mothers. It is the anniversary of our arrival in the world, but we didn’t do all that much. I just showed up, after all. On this impending birthday, I say “happy birthday” to my mom. She is the one who was working so hard 47 years ago.
Frankly, I think my best days are still to come. As a character in a movie from my youth said “What’s behind me is not important!”
I may go buy a lottery ticket…with a lot of 7s in it..