Another Year Complete

Today is my birthday. I am under the impression or delusion that this will be a lucky year because the numbers are 06/03/09. And 6 times 3 is 9. And the Chinese think years with nine are lucky. The year just finished was not lucky. Or maybe I should hold it as luck that I survived it.

Age is an interesting thing. I remember as a kid I argued for the one half. Dad you say I was six (he was usually off a year or two) and I would correct him and ad the half, "No, Daddy, I am eight and a half." Definite stress on the a half. At some point, probably the 5th grade, we learned of fractions and I started arguing for three fourths which then gave way to almost nine or ten.

After reaching my teens this stress to always be older gave way for a while. I remember continuing to slip in for under 12 into movie theaters. Tickets were cheaper for kids. And I did not see anything at all sweet about 16. It was a horrid year with Mom's cancer. I admit to a certain numbness of just putting one foot in front of another until I was off at college.

Then suddenly you want to be 21 and legally able to drink. I became a master at altering ID's (they seem to have since made better). I made the mistake of celebrating my 21st birthday twice at the same bar. Wisely did not do that a third time.

Then women, at least, don't want to be older. I got asked to prove I was 21 on my 30th birthday. And the waitress thought I am my stepdaughters were sisters. Their father did not like that.

Anyway, yesterday, on my last day of being 63 (which I thought would be lucky because of the 6 and the 3) I realized I was not looking forward so much to my birthday today as feeling profound relief at having just completed another year. I want all the problems of the last 12 months (including the depression economy and the contractor from hell) to be gone as if by a wave of my Fairy Godmother's magic wand. I even woke up this morning wondering if the world would look different. And it didn't. Well, it did rain all last night and is currently foggy and overcast which is different for here. But other than that it seems like the same world as yesterday.

You would think that after all these years I would realize that one day does not a difference make. It is probably being raised on fairy tales and Hollywood musicals.