birthday boy...ho hum

Yesterday was my 28th birthday.

While it was a good day, it is plain that it no longer carries the same pizzaz that it once did. I remember witnessing my parents birthdays as a child and wondering how it is that they were able to conceal their extreme excitement. Surely they must be exploding with glee inside but need to maintain some sense of maturity since they are old. Really, what's better than your birthday?

Apparently, I've gone to join them, crossing over that line where birthdays don't exempt you from working, even working longer or harder, and don't bring piles of exciting toys and knick-knacks and baseball cards. Just checks.

Maybe next year, I need to have a child's birthday party to relive some of the emotions of my youth. Gift packs for the guests, a big disgusting cake, streamers and balloons. Or I could have an adult party like last year, with Belgian ales and international cheeses. For some reason, I decided to bypass the get-together this year. Just leave me to get old and die, thank you very much.

Either I'm starting to understand whatever it is that my parents have understood for years or maybe everyday is so festive that it's difficult to muster additional energy for party days. When you are already running at such a high level of positive intensity, how can you raise it up another notch?

In no way do I feel like I'm entering some sort of "big fade" where the rest of my life boils down to boredom and varying amounts of depression and crisis, which must be the fear of every slightly aging young man or woman. Maybe not boredom so much as simplicity. No crisis...I'm not wired for crisis. I'd be more prone to boredom, I'm sure. Honestly, though...Life is good. Birthdays are strange.