taking a cha-cha-cha-chance

My friend Cory gave me a Starbucks gift card on my birthday. My friend Kate mailed me a gift card from Blick, the art store, for my birthday. Ann took me out to a pizza dinner the night of my birthday, and bought a huge, heavy, delicious carrot cake with cream cheese frosting for a celebration with her, her son Alec, daughter-in-law Vanessa, grandson Logan, and Cory in our apartment the next day, stretching and elongating my birthday celebration.

This morning, drinking coffee in the lop-sided recliner, a swell idea arrived, which is this: Every time going forward, from this Wednesday on, whenever I am asked the often genuine and often matter-of-fact question, “How’s it going?”, I am going to reply the same way – “Great. It’s my birthday.” I like it. I believe it would and will change the ambiance, the molecules of any given day, for the better. More happiness. More joy. Who isn’t uplifted knowing it’s someone’s birthday. Al Kooper sang, “It’s a brand new day.” Dogen said, “Tonight’s moon is not last night’s moon.” So it’s not so much I’m still here as here I am again. Renewed.

Maybe The Beatles operated the same way – “You say it’s your birthday. It’s my birthday too, yeah. You say it’s your birthday. We’re gonna have a good time.” See. We’re gonna have a good time.

Consider yourself notified. Ask me how I’m doing. How’s it going? How I am. I’m going to answer the same way every time – “Great. It’s my birthday.” I won’t be lyin’.