The Candles on the Cake Started the Fire

I got congratulated a lot the other day on my birthday when it's really my mom who deserves all the credit. I was, literally, along for the ride. I spent part of the day, as a man who pretends the best is yet to come, in the office of one of the half-dozen physicians I see on a regular basis. I like to think of them as "Team Bill". They, on the other hand, are not all that crazy about that moniker. I think the tee shirts were a touch too much.

I know I've stayed too long at the fair when I am happy that my A1C is 6.7. and I feel like I did when I scored 3rd-row tickets for Springsteen on his first German tour. We're talking grin across my entire face. How pathetic is that? It's right up there with taking a nap on the couch in the afternoon sitting on the couch watching the television and being surprised every single time my wife wakes me up that I fell asleep in the first place. Maybe I should skip the jeans and just start wearing the PJs with the feet.

My birthday morning was a bit tense for a moment as my doctor harshed my buzz by talking about scheduling a prostate exam (people often say prostrate exam-I love that) and I wasn't exactly wearing my happy hat, but when he rechecked his records, he confirmed what I'd been telling him-I'd recently had one (and bracing for the unhappy followup as a result of it). Trust me, I said, that's an item you remember.

How ironic as an aging FARC, I'd feel such kinship with a dreidel. I haven't stopped, but I have slowed down and more and more I've become the old guy I spent a large part of my life avoiding. Who says God has no sense of humor? As much as my heart will always beat a little faster for My Generation until it stops beating entirely, I share another Bill's belief. I too, have passed the age of consciousness and righteous rage, I've found that just surviving is a noble fight. I once believed in causes, too, I had my pointless point of view, but life goes on no matter who was wrong or right.

After seven-plus decades of trying to outrun the sound of my own steps in fright and flight, I've learned to appreciate the irony of not having to worry about a legacy when so little was accomplished.
-bill kenny