My birthdays tend to be a bit over the top, in both style and duration. I realize this is a bit silly and juvenile, but so are many things that I also like. I also realize that this tradition would only be possible only as a result of the amazing people in my life (who will tolerate both my silliness and Juvenalian tendencies…) People who will dedicate a month of weekends to barbeques, junk trips, toga parties, lewd & lascivious street fairs, airfare, brunches & lunches, dinner parties, dance parties, cocktails, kegs, hotel pool parties, beach parties, picnics in parks, bar-hopping, Virgo-adoring, wine tasting…
It can be a lot to ask.
The good news, as any of you who know a Virgo well will attest to, is that we generally put on one hell of a shitshow. We are good planners. We are thorough, organized, detail oriented, and efficient. As a result I have volumes of fabulous memories of birthday’s past.
This year is different. I made no plans this year. Not in a pity party kind of way – it was more like I just adopted a more observant position and decided that I would see what unfolded. This is the first birthday since I have repatriated that did not fall precisely on Back to School Night, which is a victory in itself. It has been a while since I had a birthday on a weekend, an obvious note to anyone who understands the Julian Calendar.
I found out recently that I share a birthday with the wife of my co-teacher at school. I thought that was not odd at all. As such, yesterday, when I was invited to have drinks after work I certainly accepted. It was a nice start to the weekend, unscripted, unplanned. When he asked what I would be doing for my birthday I said I didn’t know. I wasn’t really feeling it for this one.
The numbers are too even and divisible, I said.
I can see why that would be an issue for you, he answered directly.
Yeah. I prefer odd. Numbers.
And the reality [cue Captain Obvious] is that one never really knows what the day will bring anyhow. Even if you totally set the stage – the outcome is unknowable. Whatever does happen, it will occur with my nails and hair looking amazing, the sun shining, cats complaining. Could be far worse, of that I am certain. Not to mention that the connection I feel to the people in my life grows ever stronger. Looking through email and various social media posts this morning made me feel literally surrounded by a lifetime of amazing people, from all over, who (have) touch(ed) my life in so many ways as friends, travelers, students, teachers, parents, kindred spirits, mentors, colleagues, family…
I wish I could effectively show graphically what it looks like in my brain as I look across the giant chrono/carto-graph of my life. How to show the infant me, the high school me, the college me, the sub-adult me, the grown-uppish me, the together me, the broken me; the friends in India, Portugal, Britain, France, Dubai, China, Hong Kong, Germany, Norway, Mexico, Oman? and across the US – NYC, Chicago, Nola, SeaWa, SoCal, Tahoe, HI, ID, NV; the students I have known, the teachers I have emulated, the people who have shown me different ways…. there they all are in a light show of epic proportions.
Happy Birthday to the folks who share this birthday like Bilbo Baggins, Li Zicheng, Lord Chesterfield, Michael Faraday, Dame Christabel Pankhurst, Joan Jett, and David Stern… and Happy Equinox and Happy last day of Virgo.
I think I shall go get an iPad.