Another birthday. The
childhood excitement of seeing friends, eating cake, getting presents, eating
cake (you get the idea where my priorities lie) is now a fond memory, sharing
space with the memories of most of the friends who ate cake with me. (Well, some ate the frosting and ran off
leaving their cake otherwise untouched, but that is beside the point!)
If I am honest, I have to admit that I don’t like birthdays
much and I’ve started to understand why some folks don’t bother to celebrate
them. A birthday is a sobering reminder
of all the things I’d expected to do well before now: find a job I love, buy a
house and a yard and make them my own, learn to love a woman and get married, perhaps
even begin raising a family, and run off and join the circus. (Okay, so the last one was never on my
list!) It is discouraging to see where
my life isn’t what I planned or hoped and too easy to stop there.
It is clear; however, that birthdays must be about hope for
what is to come than regret for things which have (or have not) been. I’ve had another year to gain wisdom (though the desire so seldom keeps up with the need!), acted upon opportunities to learn to
love others better (even if I still have a lot of improvement to go!), and grown in my understanding of personal and professional leadership. I know that I am here on this earth with a purpose. (even if I don’t
always understand or remember it!) I take comfort in knowing that I am more than who I was last
year on this day and I thank so many of you who have made it so.
