Birthdays are just for kids?

I’m fortunate to stay young by working with youth of all ages. I have the privilege of being like a second dad or grandpa to many. So when it comes to birthdays or special occasions it gives me a chance to do something out of the extra ordinary. I was truly blessed to have a mom that was very creative and always did something that was fun for birthdays. She would make my favorite cakes and then allow me to invite my friends to hang out and play games. My Anne always would create different types of cakes that would reflect what our kids were doing at that stage in their life. It has been so much fun watching her creations over the years.

Tomorrow I will get to celebrate one of my little guy’s birthdays, Mr. Peanut or Davontae will get to hang out at my house, play his favorite game on our PS3 and also choose what he wants for dinner. My intern will take him and his brothers to her place so they came swim. I usually try to find some really funny off the wall card and give each of my kids or teens $10, which they can spend on anything of their choice.

The sad fact is that most of the kids and teens that we are around don’t have much family life so they usually don’t get much attention for their special day. I have some moms who really want to celebrate but are on such limited budgets there really isn’t anything left over to buy presents, make a cake or invite friends over. So the gift we give often is to just take out a small group of their friends to show them that they are special and that everyone should be able to celebrate their birthday and feel loved.

I know as I get older and have lived through my 40^th, 50^th and now 60^th it is scary to think of what it means to get old. Some would say that age is just a state of mind so if you don’t mind it doesn’t matter how old you are. I have many older friends who teach me daily that being old can truly be a blast! You have experienced so much in life that it is a delight to help others see that today can be a total mess but tomorrow can and will be better. I hope to instill in my kids that showing kindness and grace goes a long way in helping people to understand young people who make poor choices too often and be more friendly to older people who may not be too flexible.

It is a joy to see my in-laws and Grandma Mary defy aging for the most part. I will always remember my father in-law’s 87^th birthday. We were there to witness first hand his craziness in wanting to jump out of a plane at 10,000 feet. I know that my wife and her mom were a little fearful of his craze with parachuting. Yet, after about an hour of signing papers, getting his parachute and then listening to instructions he was ready to do it. I think that it happened so fast that it was a little bit of a let down. The good thing is that he got a video with him flying high and landing without a hitch.

One of the houses we painted last Saturday was for a grandma Francis who will be celebrating her birthday this coming Saturday. It was a treat being able to give her house a ‘face lift’. It hadn’t been painted in over 20 years. I know that for Francis being old isn’t so much fun presently. She has a bad leg that doesn’t seem to want to heal and the doctors don’t have much they can do to help. So I think we should go out of our way to be with kids that don’t have family and then also love seniors who are alone in life and view birthdays as a thing of the past.  

I know that I have waited for decades to be able to get discounts now at the movies or staying in a hotel for being a senior. So there is some advantage to getting old besides getting gray hair! Happy birthday to my Peanut or Davontae! Hope your birthday rocks!