7300 and some change.

Yesterday, I turned 20. I called into work, skipped class and spent the day otherwise being lazy. I took a long hot shower, played in the rain puddles outside, let my hair dry itself and watched the movies I've been meaning to catch up on anyways.

People always tell me the older you get, the less birthdays matter. I disagree. The older you get, the less you want birthdays to matter. Sure, the birthday parties get smaller over the years, but that's not what it's supposed to be about in the first place. Then we all obsess about staying young and stopping the aging process. Why? Everyone gets older, every day. No one has found the fountain of youth and I pray to God that no one does. How boring would it be if we all stayed young forever? Thus, getting older is the name of the game and we should all be more than glad to play. It's all in how you look at it.

I was born shortly after the Berlin Wall fell. I can clearly recall everyone's outrage at Clinton's affair in my youth. I was standing outside my 6th grade homeroom when I heard about the World Trade Center being bombed. I was in high school when my peers signed up, shipped off and fought for the bullshit war in Iraq. I was alive for things that are already in history books across the nation... my kids will think I'm the oldest foagie ever when I tell them I remember those events.
I remember moving into our new house. I remember my mom telling us about Dad's alcoholism. I remember dozens of hospital visits for various friends and family over the years. I was there when my parents signed their divorce papers and again when they packed all of Dad's stuff up and said good-bye.

Age is just a number. Getting older may seem like a rite of passage or some dreaded and defining number, but I've realized that age is just a bookmark on the timeline of your life. And your birthday is the best chance to stop for just a second and look around. Look at all that has gone well and all that has failed and accept them all.

I have been blessed these 20 years. I was born into a loving family, with enough money to get by so poverty was never a fear. Even in its current broken state, I still have contact with all of my family. I have yet to lose anyone close to me, a fact that I take for granted daily. I live in America and am shielded, in that respect, from famine and civil war and constant economic turmoil. In the midst of a dramatic recession, I have a job. I have an apartment that I can afford. No, not everyday in my life is sunny and marvelous, but whose is?

Call me naive, but I welcome my birthdays. I embrace them as a chance to remind myself that it's only natural to age. I see them as an opportunity to sort myself out and redirect myself, if needed. Because, whether we like them or not, our birthdays are lined up and coming in... we can open the door and accept them as an old friend or we can try to hide and lie about them. I like to think that I'll always welcome old friends... what is life without them?