Happy Birthday to Meee.

Here I am in St. Louis, it is cold, it is snowing, I'm calling on people who are going to give me a hard time, I'm with people who are..well, not my people. I stay in St. Louis another day then catch a flight to the city of Angels, then home Friday night. Oh, and it is my birthday. Happy birthday to me. The real party is this weekend. As soon as I land, I will drive to Abilene and spend time with my favorite people in the world, my bride, my kids, my kids-in-law, my grandkids, my dad and his wife. All the people who have shared the past 55 birthdays with me will be there. I can't wait.

But today I will keep my head down and do my job. I have joked with those around me that I don't really celebrate birthdays anymore, but anniversaries. So this is the 16th anniversary of my 40th birthday. Not that 40 was all that great, but it seems better the smaller it gets in the rearview mirror.

So how do we handle these time markers? Do we just plow on? or more likely hurtle through our day, filling it up with noise and bustle and events? It is important to me to be more reflective than that. It is important to think about the time markers in our lives, you see there are only so many.

I read not too long ago that the day of our demise is more important than the day of our birth. I have thought about that since reading it. We are the only creature that God made that has some understanding that we will not always be here. We live our lives knowing that the world flows on, but unable to change that fact. Our concept of eternity whether Hindu or Muslim or Christian pushes against the idea of always "gone" We cling to the belief that even after death there is, well something. Preachers yell at us that it can be very good, or it can be very bad, depending on what current behaviour they are trying to illicit. But what if it just is? This scares a lot of folks because they want to believe in merit and earning and trial times. And I think they hope that the folks here, trapped in our same time frame will get whats coming to them. When in reality, we all get that.

So today I look back at the turns of the journey and realize that my particular journey has been far more blessed than most. I met the love of my life in my first attempt at college. I have a father of integrity, I have kids who are mature and compassionate, I have grand kids that hug me and call me "grandaddy", I have friends who have stood with me in very bleak times, and I have been blessed far more than I could ever hope for or imagine.

So happy birthday to me. I guess I will have to eat all the cake.

Godspeed
Don