Thirty-two

UI Athletics Director Gary Barta sent me a birthday present. Well, not really, but I will jokingly say he did because our basketball tickets came in the mail yesterday. I waited to open the envelope tonight for my birthday. (Thanks, Gary!) (Actually, they are not really presents because I paid for them.)

Yep — I turned thirty-two today. I took it easy and savored every minute. Instead of sleeping in, as I planned, I took the garbage and recycling to the curb early and decided to stay up. Work was slow and I dealt with things as they came in. I read the paper on the porch, went to Sharpless before lunch, and took a long, peaceful walk in the afternoon. This evening I kept the celebrations low-key, as always, enjoying pizza and angel food cake with the fam. It was priceless.

Many people my age are starting to dismiss their birthdays as regular days, nothing unlike the other 365. I guess it reminds them of how old they are getting. Fuck that! I love my birthday. It’s magical for me and always has been. A lot of it has to do with the fact it falls in last third of October. The perfect weather, the colorful fall foliage, the pumpkins lining porch steps and stoops, the Halloween decorations starting to appear in people’s yards, FOOTBALL!, the World Series, basketball tickets arriving in the mail… Man, what an incredible time to have been born. I was truly blessed with an incredible birthday. If I ever meet that special woman and we decide to have kids, I will be a very busy man in January. (Or would it be February? I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.) I would love it if my son or daughter could enjoy the same magical birthday experiences as I have.

(Sorry for being so emotional. Zee German sent me Oasis’ (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? recently and I have been listening to it all day. It has been an incredibly beautiful and powerful soundtrack to the day. “Wonderwall,” “Hey Now!,” and “Champagne Supernova” make me want to cry for some reason. Perhaps the LOUDNESS is having an effect on me.)