Birthdays are Good for You

Why are birthday’s good for you? Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest! (Larry Lorenzoni)

I’m guessing in the picture above where I’m sitting in the lap of my very fashionably dressed big sister while my cousin and my other sister posed for the camera that I had not yet had my first birthday. But I have counted quite a few since then.

Do you love birthdays? I do. I don’t worry about the number. My husband is always ready to remind me of how old I am even though he’s got a few years on me. He likes to worry me or at least think he’s worrying me about my age. But I’m glad for the blessing of each new year coming my way. Of course it might be nice to have joints that didn’t want to creak and complain. It would be great to sit on the floor and then hop up as though you had springs in your legs. Fresh springs with plenty of bounce left in them. My physical therapist daughter is shaking her head and telling me I need to strengthen my core. Well, of course I do.

Ahh, the core of one’s body. The part in the middle where the heart is and those stomach muscles and well, the part that needs to be extra strong. I’m for extra strong but mostly I want my mind to age gently and well. I want to live life to the fullest all the way to the end. I’m not the first one to think that as these quotes from Erma Bombeck and Hunter S. Thompson attest.

“When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, ‘I used everything you gave me.” ― Erma Bombeck

Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!”
– Hunter S. Thompson (20th century American journalist & author)

Here I am again with my blonde sister after I was a little older. Probably the next summer before I could count my years with the number two. At that age, I’m sure I wasn’t a bit worried about counting my years at all.

But counted or not, years do pile up and increase that number if you are fortunate enough to keep having them. And sometimes it’s fun to laugh about getting older. If there is one kind of wrinkles you want to have as you add on the years, it’s those smile wrinkles. Seeing these pictures of my sisters and me when we were so young adds to my smile wrinkles. I was so blessed to be the child of loving parents. I was blessed to grow up on a farm where I could see the stars in the night sky and walk among the trees and wild flowers.

I am blessed now to still have the country life, to have a good husband, wonderful children and children-in-law and those beautiful grandchildren. I am blessed to be able to live my childhood dream of being a writer. I am blessed to have people like you read my words. I’m blessed with an office with windows where I can write my stories while a dog buddy sleeps behind my chair. So many blessings to count on my birthday. Even those years I’ve piled up are a blessing.

We all want to run our courses with energy and with joy. I think the Lord is all for that too as we run down the roads He points us toward and slide through the doors of opportunity He opens for us. Rejoice is a word you see often in the Bible.

So it’s fun to rejoice in a birthday and the blessing of a new year to count.

Do you like birthdays? What blessings can you count on your birthday?

As always, thanks for reading.