Reminders

This past week, I celebrated my 51st birthday. I love birthdays. I always say that any day with cake is a good day. Cards in the mail instead of bills. People singing to you. What's not to like?

Reminders of my age keep coming up, though. There was the AARP invitation in the mail last week (I refuse to join for reasons not related to age). Then there was Saturday when I was the oldest one at a younger friend's girlfriend day where we did facials. Let me tell you, they all looked better without makeup than me.

Today I received the invitation to my 30th college reunion. Was 1980 really that long ago? I still think very young, albeit with a bent towards wisdom from lessons learned.

But the numbers don't lie. Maybe that's why I always hated math. With science, there's no talking your way out of the facts like there is when you think. That's why I became a Liberal Arts student, I'm sure of it.

Nonetheless, here I am. 51 years old. Sometimes-painful arthritis in my left hip and little finger. Memories that go back before my younger peers were born. A box full of pictures taken before digital cameras became the norm, and a closet stuffed with vinyl records (hey, I heard they're making a comeback).

It's not like me to dwell on age - and I'm not doing that now. It's just that sometimes, the numbers tap you on the shoulder and remind you of their presence.

But, enough of this. I've got to get moving. There's no time for counting.