Birthdays

We all have one. The day we were born into this world. The day our life began. The day our story began.

For many, we commemorate our birthdays with cakes and balloons, dinners with friends and family, and presents. Birthdays as kids are days to anticipate and relish. For a 24-hour period we are the center of attention, showered with adoration and our favorite things. Later in life, birthdays can become more of a dreaded occasion as a reminder that we are another year older and perhaps on the downside of the hill.

But whatever the number, birthdays should always be celebrations. Maybe less a celebration of our trips around the sun but more a celebration of the person and all that they embody.

We are all individuals — one of a kind, singular, distinct. We write our own stories and travel our own paths through life. Our years are filled with private and public successes and failures, loves lost and found, roads traveled and passed by, and a bushel of opportunities, adventures and people. Perhaps we are blessed to grow a family and give life to others. We all make choices that determine how we spend our days, who we go through life with, and where in this big world we wake and lay our head to rest.

Our “birth” day is the anniversary of our entrance into this world. The starting line from which we run the race.