About Birthdays:

About Birthdays:


Is this a 'good thing' or a 'bad thing'?


Today, I have been brainstorming, thinking, "What can I do today that would be 'special' for my birthday?"


Several years ago, I came to the conclusion that, with realistic limitations ($$ and time), generally speaking, I do "What I want", and whenever I want to do it.  With that taken into consideration, EVERY DAY is a birthday for me!  The 'good thing' about the deal is that, thankfully, the actual number of years will only increase one every 365 days.


We go to 'special' restaurants whenever we feel the urge, and not just on select days.  I go see all that St. Louis has to offer whenever I leave the house, and those visits are not reserved for a specific date.  I go to the Missouri Botanical Gardens weekly, the Zoo often, the St. Louis Art Museum, the History Museum, Malls, antique malls and stores, unique shops, and I go to wonderful venues and events at a frantic rate throughout the season. 


For example, this evening, I am going to do what I do during this time of the year, every other year that I have lived in the St. Louis area.  I am going to the opening of the first large outdoor art fair of the season, located at Laumeir Sculpture Park, just 7 miles from our home.  To me, this is a yearly event that I have never missed since I have lived in this area.  The skill, attention to detail, hard work, passion and finesse that these artists exhibit in their fine art and creativity will always inspire me to take the comforting, settling, deep breath that my heart craves, and one which will serve to center and soothe my soul.  


I love the first night, evening openings of these Art Fairs.  I usually go to Friday night openings by myself, without Mark, so I can browse at my leisure, without him getting bored, and hurrying me through the venue.    I can take my time and talk to the artists from all over the country that I have grown to know on a personal level over the 17 years that I have lived in the St. Louis area.  The lines at the wine tasting booth are long, and that area is crowded. No problem.  I will have a locally brewer oatmeal Schlafly Beer,  grab a Lobster Risotto Cake, Wild Mushroom Pesto Quesadilla, or a  Grilled Eggplant Goat Cheese Panini, and enjoy a Spring evening while listening to Jazz on the main stage.  It isn't uncommon for me to spend 3 hours or more on a Friday evening (or Saturday afternoon!) at an Art Fair.


Everyday is a birthday celebration for me.  If $$ flowed more freely, I would be traveling the entire world, sampling all the food, wearing all the clothes, listening to the different music that the people of the world has to offer, and taking in every custom that I can get my fat little fingers on.  


But reality sets in, and I realize that I have not - and probably will not - get a huge inheritance that will allow me to explore the entire world. In the meantime, I am thankful that I have the world that I DO have to explore, the music that I have taught myself how to play, my other abilities that I have fine tuned.  I know people who will not allow themselves such things in their lives, and the price they pay is much greater than the yearning that I experience on a daily basis because I can't experience the entire world.  Their pain is much greater than my own, because they don't know it's source.  The sad fact is that those individuals most likely have more of the resources available to them than those that are available to me, and that they could enrich their lives, but they have made the conscious choice to remain bitter, and to not do so.  That is an unfortunate fact.


With that being said, 


"HAPPY BIRTHDAY - every day - TO ME!"  


:)

- Michael