Birthday Math: A + B + C = B'day

The math genius looking forward, warts and all.

It's weird. I woke up this morning having all kinds of philosophical thoughts about turning 57 years old-- age, history, the whole past, present, and what lies ahead thing. I especially remembered that day in 1966 when my friend Greg first met my Dad and discovered my Dad was 57. It was the first time I realized my Dad was what, these days, we call an "outlier."It was the first time I ever came to think of my Dad as vulnerable.

Last night before he went off to bed my little guy told me, forewarned me, that the gift he and Mom had picked for me hadn't arrived in time and just how sorry and disappointed he was about this shortcoming. Now his thinking is maybe where we all should stay focused on a birthday: celebration and honor. At 6 and 3/4 you still remember the old math: Birthday = A (party) + B (presents) + C (cake), the answer being directly proportional to the sum of the addends. But for most of us, however, I'd wager we no longer know the old math. "It's just another birthday," "I'm too old for birthdays," "I don't want anything for my birthday," "I've stopped celebrating birthdays," and on and on-- the new math being: A (age) + B (recognition of getting old) + C (concern about getting old) = Bad-day. It seems in this new equation, the first addend, age, increases sequentially by whole numbers while the second and third are variables. So how does one know how to solve this second equation if it's an equation with two variables??

Actually, the formula is pretty easy. In fact, the two equations are really exactly the same. My 6 year old recognizes he's getting older, loose tooth and all. Getting older and bigger, is exciting. More opportunities, more adventures, more fun lie ahead. He recognizes he is aging and shows no adverse concern-- life is opportunity! The problem for us older folks is not the math, it's plugging in the right variables: Do we plug in opportunity, or regret? Do we plug in gratitude or remorse? Acceptance or denial? Are we looking forward to more or dreading less? Anyone can solve the equation because the variables are not unknown, they're elective-- you can choose.

I hurt most mornings-- might be several years of volleyball. Or that football collision with Ron Moss where he flattened my ass on the playground at Emerson in 1970. Or, then, maybe it's the Crestor. Whatever the cause, in the grand scheme of things, the disability is minor. I have a great career although not without headaches and challenges over which I lose more than a couple hours of sleep each month. I have a boy with a very long way to go and a daughter who's almost there. In spite of all adversity and concern, opportunities remain abundant. and age is just a number-- so far.

So today, I'll say "thank you"for any birthday greetings that come my way. Even those from Google, mortgage brokers, and the place that makes my glasses. Because I know how to do the math. I know I'm fortunate to be getting older. Now if I could just stop getting bigger.