Another Year Wiser?

It’s my birthday, or as I like to think of it, my own personal New Year’s Day but without the ‘late into the night and into the early morning’ NYE celebration.  Too old for that nonsense, although there was one year about a decade ago when my birthday celebration went from midnight to midnight.  This year’s celebration is a bit more sedate but still very me.  It started with a country western music concert and ended with a visit to fabulously huge flea market.

If you don’t already know, you might be asking yourself, how old is she?  Each year I find it harder and harder to get use to the new number.  In some years I have adjusted to it by reversing the numbers and then, like last year, I could claim to be a dyslexic 45.  This year I can say that I am a ’10’ again, the hard way.

A few days ago as I pondered on my upcoming birthday and the well-known ‘older, wiser’ saying, I found this quote by actor Tom Wilson while rooting around on the internet; “Wisdom doesn’t necessarily come with age. Sometimes age just shows up all by itself.”  Well, isn’t that just great.  Here I’ve been waiting for the day when I would wake up and be wise.  So wise and all knowing that my husband, my children, my mother, my sister, all the rest of my family, my friends, and my co-workers would never question any of my advice or suggestions on how they could improve their lives or on any other subject that might be at hand.  No, I guess that’s not going to happen.  Fine, whatever.

So if age is just going to show up all by itself, then it must be up to me to find the wisdom.  As I shared in A Change of Seasons and New Beginnings, on my birthdays I tend to find myself doing a bit of contemplative thinking on my ‘year’ that has just passed.  What had I learned, what challenges had I faced, how was my life different on that day than it was a year prior?  And with the pending start of my next trip around the sun, I would begin to formulate a game plan for the year to come.  What can I still learn, what challenges might I face, how will my life be different next year than it is right now?

In the past year I have learned how to put together a website, as evidenced by this blog.  The completion of a household ‘downsizing’ (in more ways than one) was a challenge faced and met with hand in hand my husband.  Life is different than it was a year ago because I have a new creative outlet, I live at a new address, I no longer need to make a school lunch for my son, and I hope that I am wiser for it all.   There have been missteps as well and it is probably from those experiences that I have gained the most wisdom.

And what about the year to come?  I have been wondering about all of the ways I might be wiser on my next birthday (because I will certainly be older) and how I will get there.  Will it be from new knowledge, new challenges, or new missteps?  I can either let life happen to me or make life happen for me and I chose the latter.

So, on this first day of my new year I am unveiling this blog to my family and friends.   I have been hesitant to do this for one reason or another that are mostly about fear.  The blog is not private and already has a few followers who do not know me personally so why have I been afraid to share it those who know me?  If I was wiser I might know the answer.

The photo credit for the feature image of this post goes to my husband.  Yesterday evening I mentioned that I did not yet have a picture for my birthday article.  I asked him about images I might find on the internet and if I could use one of them even if they might be copyrighted.  He said that I should not use an image that might be copyrighted with paying for it and that he could probably come up with something for me.  After quick stops at a local drug store and market he had the elements he needed and then I had my photo.  More than the photo and if that was not enough of a testament of his love and support, he also sent me a beautiful ‘love letter’ via text message.  I know he shows it to me in actions everyday but to see the words about how much he loves me and how important I am to him was very romantic and very touching.  He even recounted how he fell in love with me at nearly first sight because he thought I was cute and he was fascinated by my neck.  I knew the story about his fascination with my neck but that he thought I was cute and how thrilled he was that I said yes when he asked me for a date.  Best birthday gift ever!

One last thought on this and future birthdays comes from a quote by Satchel Paige, “How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?”