Once every year, each of us has the opportunity to celebrate the anniversary of our birth. This special day tells everyone that we have achieved another milestone of living.
This week is the first birthday of my grand nephew, McKeehan James Sellers. For 365 days he has brought joy into my life and happiness for many others. I see his birthday as a personal holiday, a celebration for all of the many who care about him to focus their love and attention on him. While being thankful for all that he has already brought into my life, his birthday is also a time to anticipate all of the adventures that lie ahead for him.
Several decades ago, I realized that having only one day to celebrate my personal holiday was far too limiting to myself and to the friends who wanted to be part of my celebration. So, I began to have a birthday week. Over the years, my birthday party has eventually grown into the full month of October.
McKeehan and I shall share this special month though out our lives. Our joint goal will hopefully include the opportunity to spend time with many of the people that we love and care about. We shall have the chance to build new memories each year to add to those from previous years.
Even with 69 years between us, having this common month of October to celebrate our births will always allow a special bond between us.
As I am celebrating this joyous personal time, I am always amazed at the many different attitudes that exist toward one’s birthday. People attitudes and behaviors range from being very happy to being sad and/or angry at the process of aging.
Persons like myself are so happy to have had one more year with the gift of life. We see these milestones as markers of having lived with new experiences full of diverse learning. Each day of the year has given us the chance to give and receive gifts from the people who surround us each day in our world.
As with most things in life, there is always another way of looking at a situation. Some people see the living of each day as a burden that is to be endured, perhaps with psychic and/or physical pain. Birthdays are just another marker of how negative life is or can be.
Many people dislike birthdays because it is a sign of getting older and, for many in our society, getting older is a negative condition. To many the aging process indicates “the end” of living, becoming ill, seeing friends and family die, losing a purpose for life such as working, etc.
Life is what we choose to do with what we are given. Some choose to enjoy playing and enjoying all that they have been given without focusing on what they do not have. Others choose the opposite or someplace between the extremes.
To me, birthdays are an annual reminder of the life choices we make for ourselves and for me to recall and be happy with the ones I have made.
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I've seen selective memory work well for you, not that I think you forget the blue times, but choose to focus on the things your thankful for. One lady said 'Learning is a good thing and we learn from making mistakes, so thanks for the lesson.' A good spin on experience.
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