A birthday conversation

Okay, so I am having a little trouble wrapping my brain around the number of years my imminent birthday is celebrating. It's not a Big Round Number, but I am ever so slightly freaked out, which doesn't happen to me much, though the last two birthdays have held more of this omigodde feeling than the previous umpteen ones.

So let's have some fun with this, and let me ask you all:

What was the hardest age for you to reach?

What was your best birthday? (So far. You have some other good ones ahead, G*d willing.)

What was the most difficult birthday you've ever had? Why?

What is your favorite thing to do (or not to do) on your birthday?

What is your favorite thing about birthdays?

Do the approach and day of your birthday evoke particular memories? Smells? Tastes? Feelings?

Birthdays: love 'em, hate 'em, ignore 'em? None of the above?

How do you feel about age and aging?

How (if at all) does your congregation (or spiritual circle, or whatever your community of meaning and celebration is) celebrate or honor its members' birthdays?

What did your family do about birthdays when you were growing up?

Do you have "mortality moments" on your birthday? Do you invariably feel grateful? Both? Neither?

Do you tell people your age? Why or why not?

Do you take the day off on your birthdays? Why or why not?

If you do, what do you do (or not do)?

Have you ever spent a birthday alone? Do you prefer spending your birthday alone?

Do you broadcast your birthday or prefer not to mention it?

Do you have particular rituals on your birthday?

What do you think of birthday parties?

What do you think of surprise parties?

At what time of year were you born? How has this affected your birthdays?

What is (are) your culture(s) of origin? How do you think this affects your attitude toward birthdays?

How does the culture in which you now live affect your birthday and your attitude toward birthdays?

Does your religious or spiritual practice affect your birthday practice(s) and your attitude towards birthdays?

Do you feel differently about other people's birthdays and your own?

Do you have trouble remembering your loved ones' birthdays? Do you keep a birthday book?

Tell the truth now: do you celebrate your pets' birthdays?

I suppose I should ask what your favorite birthday present has been, but that is an afterthought. I don't think I've ever really remembered specific birthday presents as much as I have where I was or with whom I was or what I did. Or what I ate. But that may be me.

I do remember and treasure a few specific birthday presents - e.g. I still have the present my best friend from college gave me on my 20th birthday and I have a few noteworthy birthday memories, not all of which are suitable for a family blog.

The strawberries up there are because when I was growing up we would always have the first strawberries of the year on my birthday.

Feel free to ask your own questions about the birthday thang, too.

Use the "Comments" section below. Answer any or all of the above, as you please.

As MadPriest would say: Off you go, then.


P.S. I'm turning 57. Tomorrow. Pretty nondescript, except for the fact that it is the only time I will ever turn 57 on 5/7. And of course people have already started making Heinz 57 Varieties jokes. Which doesn't really go very far with someone like me who likes homemade salad dressing and doesn't like or eat hot dogs. Not that ketchup isn't sometimes necessary.