It's My Party

By Joey Gannon from Pittsburgh, PA (Candles) 

The Birthday countdown is underway.

It got started a little late this year. I think it was because of the July 4th holiday falling on a weekend. 

Bottom line is my usual 30 days of celebration is now down to 20 and kicking off today. 

Another glorious summer day.

No humidity and only a slight chance of rain ordered up just for me, of course. I love summer and I am a happy July baby.

I will fire up the grill to put the finishing touch on my favorite ribs, turn up I-Tunes and have a pale ale on the balcony while I plan a special treat for myself on everyday for the rest of the month. Because that's what I do. I am making up for all of the years of not realizing how deserving I am.

My most memorable celebration -- in beautiful Isla Blanca, Mexico, ten years ago, sleeping in a palapa at the edge of the ocean in a tiny "resort" with maybe 6 other people. I shared a birthday with one of the women from Arizona who wee in the cottage next door. My gift that year was the nightly gaze into the star-splattered sky. No artificial lights anywhere nearby, nothing to detract from the starlight. I'd never seen anything so amazingly beautiful. The resort doesn't exist anymore. I think it got blown away by a hurricane.

I don't recall birthday parties from my childhood (except the one I had once where I am sure I resented sharing the limelight with cousins Arthur, whose birthday is on the 31st; and Mike, whose birthday is on the 29th). Were we too poor to afford birthday parties or was it another one of the concepts my parents just didn't believe in -- like toys for Christmas (I always got useful stuff, like books, watches and underwear) or television?

Or maybe, it was me who balked at parties because I was never really a social creature and probably a scary, weird little kid who would have thought such things way to childish to endure.

Whatever. I know now I missed way too much and that one can never celebrate oneself too much -- or have too much fun -- or take life too seriously. That's why marking my birthday is now a month-long celebration. Welcome to the party.