Birthday Evolution

At one year of age:


Life is grand! I get to play ball, smash cake in my hair, and play with the boxes of all these toys people got me!


At 18 years of age:


Life is grand! I'm getting lots of money, I'm getting things to use in my dorm room when I go to college and the parents have no idea about the kegger later! (By the way, this was taken by a pinhole shoebox camera I made myself. Go Dad and his darkroom!)



At 42 years of age:


Life is grand! Get up, get dressed, make lunches, get the kids to the schoolbus, get gas at Costco, book the 10 miles into T-town for vacuum cleaner bags at the only Kirby store around, jet over to Jo-Ann fabric for materials for the Roman shades that are FINALLY going to get made, go to Petco for dog food and cat food, contemplate getting a bigger Furminator for the dog because he's dropping hairballs the size of chinchillas all over the carpet, decide the one you have is big enough since this sucker is $60, fly home, take note of the time (0948), fill the mower with gas, mow the front yard, divest the backyard of it's doggie land mines, mow the backyard while mourning the state of the twins and the ravages 42 years and two kids have inflicted on them, put the mower away, check that the dog hasn't eaten everything possibly edible in the house, wash the planet killer, break both a spray nozzle and the extension brush (needed due to severe vertical challenge) while washing said planet killer, rush inside, note only 45 minutes before friends here for lunch date, drop wet/grassy/dirty clothes in laundry, race upstairs completely starkers in a house with no window dressings and an Australian Shepherd herding you along, shower at the speed of sound, wrap towel around still wet nudeness to let the perpetually early friend in the house, set land speed record for dressing/applying makeup/doing hair, marvel that perpetually late friend is on time (1230), think about climbing gear to get into kingcab diesel truck where floorboards hit you mid thigh, drive to Panera, have delightful lunch full of giggles and snorts followed by chocolate dipped cone with massive Cherry Garcia scoop at the Ben and Jerry's Scoop Shop (laugh about losing your scoop shop cherry while eating cherries "oh, here it is!), realize it is 1530 and the kids are getting of the bus soon, race home, hug dear friends for a delightful time, wrassle spastic dog into his collar and leash, get kids at bus stop, give snack and force kids outside for 30 minutes, get ready for Tae Kwon Do, go see parents and receive birthday wishes, go to Tae Kwon Do, come home, have children shower while dinner is made, clean kitchen while kids watch TV/work on computer, put kids to bed, sit down for what feels like the first time, read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies while Snakes on a Plane plays for background. I'm sensing a slight change in how my birthdays are spent from in the past. (FB took this picture; I like it because it makes me look GIANT!)

This song scarily parallels my life! Ignore the country music (you philistines!) and listen to the words...holy crap!


Mark Wills - 19 Somethin'
Music Videos at www.yallwire.com

"I was a kid when Elvis died, and my mama cried..." I remember it like it was yesterday...she bawled for a week!