Birthday Diminishment

I’m having a milestone birthday today. It’s not like it used to be. Nobody knows what I was like when I was a kid any more. They’re all gone. I won’t have to listen to Dad’s yearly reminiscence that I made him miss breakfast the day I was born; I won’t get a call from Mom either.

Here are some birthday observations:

Things change. Family changes: the old guard that knew more than you did are gone; the next generation that knows less than you, doesn’t really fill the gap, as precious as they are.

Outlook changes. Thinking about the future isn’t as ‘pie in the sky’ as it was. Things that “you’ll understand when you’re older,” you now understand. Things that you didn’t want to think about when you were young, you still don’t want to think about… but you do.

Ideas about death are just as terrifying (if not more so) from the perch of age as they were when first discovered at a young age.

Here is a self portrait, with my nose up against the window to the future.

Watercolor: Self Portrait at the Cusp 7.25.17

Self Portrait at the Cusp
9″x12″ 140# Cold Pressed Watercolor Block

18 thoughts on “Birthday Diminishment

  1. Yes, make that birthday happy! Of course we are just as clueless as our parents were, and as our children are. Best not to dwell on it, but take what’s here and enjoy it. (K)

  2. I feel you, Jack. My people are all gone too. I guess some folks from high school remember me as a crazy beatnik artist but it’s not the same. Happy birthday to an inspiring artist and supportive friend on WordPress. Have a fantastic day. N.

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