Birthday Anticipation
What is it about birthdays? You would think that at 78 years old, a person would not anticipate a new year, the feeling that a new leaf is being turned, peering around a corner to see what excitement in life will ensue!
While filing some of the older songs I used to sing, I came across, “I Love Life….I Want to Live.” When I was fourteen I remember throwing my head back and singing with abandon, “I Love Life.”
It began when I was three years old, and my brother, Gene, celebrated his first birthday. I remember sitting on the flour barrel at the little round table in the ‘little house’ on Avant Street, watching my two smaller brothers, two years and one year. Mother brought the cake with one burning candle and set it in front of Gene. She tried to get him to blow out the candle.
Several spit-filled moments later the candle flared on without being extinguished. Then Mother asked me to blow out Gene’s birthday candle. What a responsibility! Blow out my brother’s birthday candle! And I could practice before I blew out my candles the next day. I knew that I would be responsible for life in teaching my younger brothers the important things of life.
Yes, birthdays have always held mystery, excitement and wonder. Sometimes it is what I will be able to do that I have never done before. I have heard of little ones who consider the birthdays as monumental — I will be able to tie my own shoes, I will go to school, I will be able to color in the lines (I don’t think I ever got that one), and then came Sweet Sixteen. What excitement, that was the biggest monumental year.
That year I qualified for my driver’s license, despite trying to start the stick-shifted car and the clutching caused the car to choke and die. I can still hear my brothers chortle as my Dad would say, “Sis, drive it or get out!” Despite that austere beginning I learned to drive and loved it.
Then came the biggie. I could wear Tangee natural lipstick! I had waited for years to apply the orange-colored lipstick that magically turned pink on my young lips. I knew my life would change drastically if I could wear orange lipstick.
The other change was being able to date. One day I realized that there is a difference between being able to date and someone actually asking to date me. Birthdays can build up a lot of expectations without reality.
What does that have to do with turning 78? The excitement of what the new year will hold, the uncharted path that I will travel, the songs to sing, little ones to love, family ties to strengthen, and above all, walking with my Lord.
Each day I give thanksgiving for the joy of Jesus, the zest that He gives to my life, the songs He places in my heart. What is around the corner in year 78? Jesus knows, and I am content to place my hand in His and sing, “I Love Life….and I Want to Live!”
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