Happy birthday!

Birthdays are cool, but too many can kill you.

Jerry Mabbott's books

Most people enjoy their birthday. After all, it's their special day! As I grow older, however, they're just not as fun anymore. They just serve as a reminder that you're getting closer to leaving this world, and your friends are there to celebrate the fact.

When I was a kid, birthdays were so awesome! The anticipation of the the coming day made it hard to sleep. It was going to be a great day at school and the festivities at home would be in my honor!

There were only a couple of birthdays that were bummers for me. On my 12th birthday, I was sick and had to stay home from school. I received a present, but no real birthday celebration. I don't know why. It was just a strange day.

The other one was when we actually had a nice celebration, including a visit from my sister's new boyfriend. My brothers and I played football in the back yard and I chose deep fried chicken for dinner. No one made deep fried chicken like my father. The problem was that he would get hammered in the process.

During the meal, I asked for a second piece of chicken. He blew a gasket and called me a lard a**. I was mortified. My mother told him that he was being mean, and my Dad said "Ok, you're slim and trim, eat hardy!" Outside of that, my birthdays were fun.

One year, I was in jolly old England, by myself, conducting seminars. I had been there three times previously, and always stayed at the same hotel, so I grew to know the staff well. I always made them laugh so each visit was like a warm homecoming.

One of the staff members noticed that I wasn't acting like myself, and wanted to know why. I mentioned that it was no big deal, it was just hard to spend your birthday alone.

That night, I was having dinner at the hotel, when I was startled at the sound of several champagne corks popping. The staff threw me a party! Cake, champagne and the company of wonderful people, in my honor. It was a wonderful night. We stayed up all night playing poker. I cleaned them all out, then tried to give their money back, but they refused to accept it, leading me to believe that they wanted me to clean them out. It was a clever way of giving me a gift, as well. I loved those people.

In retrospect, my birthdays have been pretty fulfilling. I have nothing to complain about. I have one coming up in June, and I think I will make sure it's fun.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to put together an invitation list. This is gonna be huge!

See you tomorrow.