Just Another Birthday

I turned 42 on Monday. I had a birthday party tonight - four days later. It seems that the older I get, the less I celebrate. It really seems like it should be the other way around. Instead of a little family get-together crammed in between the teenager's social events and a generally busy day, perhaps I should be kicking my heels up at a big blow-out birthday bash, really celebrating the wonderful reality that I have lived this long and been so blessed for this many years. In some countries, 42 is the life expectancy, and in other countries, it's waaaay past middle-aged. By 42 some women have been divorced multiple times, had children, lost them, been kicked around plenty by their husbands or boyfriends, and generally feel washed up and done with life. Honestly, sometimes I lose track of whether people over 40 are really considered old, or not. I used to think that anyone over 40 was old, but now I know better.

My parents gave me a little book tonight: 1965 Remember When: A Nostalgic Look Back in Time. I was feeling pretty good until I started flipping through the book and read little factoids such as the average income ($6,469 a year), cost of a movie ticket ($1.25), price of a postage stamp, 5 cents. Now I feel old enough to say something like, "Back in the year I was born, you could buy a stamp for a nickel".... the kind of comment that makes teenagers roll their eyes. The book contains ads from 1965. The women have boufant hair and they are wearing APRONS. There is an ad for a Super Nova car by Chevrolet. I'm sure most of these cars are now rusted junk, or they have license plates that define them as a "historical car." Okay, enough whining. I really believe that you are as old as you feel. So I'm thinking that 42 is young, or at least not old. So I had a good birthday, even though it was crammed in between life in general. So I'm celebrating tonight and remembering the words of Frederick Buechner:

"Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments and life itself is grace."