Today is my Birthday (CUE MUSIC: du, nu, nu, nu, nu) We’re gonna have a good time!

Another birthday. Another spin around the sun. I am now a card holding member of AARP and qualify for the 55+ maintenance free housing communities.

And while the candles might be multiplying on the cake, I find myself far less focused on the number — and far more drawn to what those years have meant.

Because plain and simple: You never really know what life has in store for you. It’s unpredictable, humbling, beautiful, and sometimes bewildering. But if you slow down long enough to reflect, it makes you ask the deeper questions:

Why are we here? What truly matters? What is fleeting? And what legacy are we leaving behind?

Let’s be honest — dying is 100% guaranteed. There’s no margin of error there. But being old? That’s something else entirely. That’s not measured in years. It’s measured in mindset.

I’ve met 30-year-olds who live like life is already behind them — and 80-year-olds who radiate more spunk, spark, and sass than most teenagers. Old is not a number. It’s a state of being.

The irony? When we’re young, we can’t wait to grow up — to chase freedom, independence, and the chance to become. Then we get older and often find ourselves longing for simpler times: days filled with curiosity, less responsibility, and a wide-open future.

We see young people dressing in “vintage” and “retro” styles, craving connection to an era they’ve never lived. Meanwhile, when someone older dares to wear the same outfit from that era — a real one, not store-bought nostalgia — they’re met with skepticism, as if time disqualifies style.

As Confucius once said: “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”

If you really pause to consider this… it’s so deeply true.
We are born.
We live.
We die.
What we do with the time in between — how we live — is what defines us.

Existentialist philosophy suggests we are what we do. Not just what we say, or what we plan — but our actions. Our kindness. Our wisdom. Our service. Our courage. Our daily choices.

“It’s not the years in your life that count, it’s the life in your years.” – Abraham Lincoln

Years are just markers on a timeline — Chronos time: the ticking of clocks, the rising and setting of suns. But the ancient Greeks also spoke of Kairos time: the right time. The opportune time. Those sacred moments when something aligns, when something meaningful stirs, when life invites us to act.

Kairos is when we say:

• The time is now.
• Now or never.
• This is the moment.

And at this point in my life — standing firmly and gratefully in the 55+ chapter — I find that the time is now more often than not.

Now is not the time to relive the past — it is the time to seize what’s here and ahead. To stop waiting. To show up fully. To give life every drop of intention we’ve got.

So I ask you (as I ask myself):

• Have your years been worth it?
• Have you made memories that make your heart swell?
• Have you lived moments that you’d happily live again and again?

Nietzsche posed a powerful question: “Are you living the life you would want to repeat for eternity?”

If life looped infinitely, would you be proud of how you showed up?

As my birthday rolls around this year, I’m giving myself the gift of time —

• Time to be
• Time to love
• Time to share

My Mom and I attended a Christmas Tea years ago and the speaker challenged us….why do we not burn the candles shaped like Santa, Snowmen, or Christmas trees? Isn’t that what they were made for? Why are we saving the pretty candles? 

I’m not saving the “pretty candles” for later. I’m burning them — today.

Because here’s what I’ve come to believe:

• Dreams are not childish.
• Wonder and curiosity are not naive.
• Monotony is not our destiny.

The things we truly desire — our desiderata — are not material. They are the essential longings of the soul: connection, adventure, meaning, inspiration, purpose, love.

There isn’t one right way to live fully. But there is your way.
Your rhythm. Your truth.

Start each day with this question:
What do I want — deeply, truly, today?
Follow it with:
Who am I? And how can I serve?

Set intentions, not just goals. Let them rise from your inner wisdom — your desire for connection, integrity, belonging.

In Buddhist tradition, a meaningful life is lived in alignment with your values — moment by moment.
In Hebrew thought, life becomes sacred when we give each moment our full awareness and intention.

Elizabeth Elliot put it this way: “A life lived without reflection can be very superficial and empty.”

Reflection brings us depth. Meaning. Growth.
Every choice, every experience, every joy and sorrow — it’s all shaping who we are becoming.

So don’t burn yourself out trying to do it all — but also don’t wait to enjoy your life. Don’t delay the good stuff.

Because emotional health isn’t just the absence of sadness — it’s the presence of joy, the ability to celebrate, to feel deeply, and to stay awake to your one precious life.

Corrie ten Boom reminds us: “Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength.”

And James Dobson offers this gentle wisdom: “The prescription for a happier and healthier life is to resolve to slow down, learn to say no gracefully, and resist the temptation to chase after more pleasure, more hobbies, and more social entanglements.”

Or as George MacDonald wisely said: “Work is not always required of a man. There is such a thing as sacred idleness, the cultivation of which is now fearfully neglected.”

So here’s to this moment.
To presence.
To peace.
To purpose.
To saying yes when the time is right — and no when your soul needs space.

And above all, to living a life you’d joyfully live again.

Happy Birthday to me. And to anyone else out there reflecting, celebrating, and recommitting to a life of meaning.

Let’s live it well. Let’s live it full. Let’s live it now.