One more year closer

Today is my 36th birthday.  I don’t know how to feel about that.  Let me first qualify by saying that I’m sleep deprived right now having travelled cross country last night and, when I am in this mood, tend to be more melodramatic.  It’s only fitting that I would be in this state on a day that most use to reflect on their own life and mortality.   So, while the following is what I’m feeling right now, it may not be what I feel tomorrow after a good night’s rest.  Or maybe it will be.

While I received an outpouring of birthday wishes today, there were a few notable absenses. Unfortunately, it was this time last year that I was at a completely different place in my life and I thought it was going in a completely different direction.  Yet, here I am, a year later, back in the same place I was before.  Starting from scratch.  Back on the hunt. While I truly believe that this is a better place to be, my mind can’t help but to reflect to a year ago.

I need sleep.

As my best friend loving pointed out, forty is rapidly approaching.  I think that 36 is an age when forty joins the conversation.  It’s not the featured guest, but it certainly has a seat at the table.  Forty. Where will I be then?  What will my life be like?  My head hurts to think about it.

What happened to thirty?

I don’t feel different.  Maybe a little bit more experienced.  Not apt to repeat some of the mistakes I’ve made in the past, yet poised to make new ones.  I don’t think that ever ends. Will I ever learn?  Not likely.

The family is celebrating on Wednesday.

My father’s birthday is three days from now.  We’re doing a dual-celebration dinner on Wednesday.  It will be nice to see everyone.  I wonder how reflective I’ll be then.  Maybe I’ll be more focused on my father’s remaining years than on my own.

Hopefully, I’ll be better rested.

Beware of the falling piano

Have you ever had one of those days where everything is going right?  You wake up refreshed and ready to take on the day? Traffic is light and there’s no line at Starbucks?  Your boss, for whatever reason, thinks every idea you have is a good one and sales are up for no reason at all?  You get an unexpected present and just feel like a million bucks?

Then, you get kicked in the nuts.

There you are, having the best day you’ve had in weeks, when all of a sudden you come around the corner and run smack dab into your ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend.  Boy, that’s fun, let me tell you.  The whole day of good shoved into the garbage disposal which is then run with no water.

This sucks.