When you are a kid and your birthday falls close to
Christmas nobody comes out a winner. Not the kid and certainly not the parent.
A good case in point: when I was about 7 or 8 my mom decided to take me to
Knott’s Berry Farm for my birthday. It was Christmas vacation so it took no
major amount of brainwidth to make it happen. My mom didn’t drive but we were
within range of a Greyhound bus station The weather was great, we had time on our
hands and there was no separate gate admission to get in the park. I am sure that I had
a good time. My memories may be dim but the old Kodak photos show a happy go
lucky guy riding the gold mine train and sitting next to a couple of dance hall
girl statues, smile on his face. It wasn’t till the day dawned on December 31st
and I found that there wasn’t a party to celebrate the big day that I fell
apart. Tears and tantrums throughout the whole day. Miserable kid, pissed off
mom. Believe it, that special day stuff ahead of the birthday never happened
again in my house.
As an adult it’s a different matter altogether when it comes
to celebrating a big deal day like New Year’s Eve. As I inched closer to a
birthday celebration that came with more than cake and ice cream I discovered
how wild and fun it could be to toast in the new year with sparkling wine and other
more exotic substances. The more control I had over my life and the holiday the
more I began to wander further afield, to take in the big day in places that
got to be further and further from home. But as the years have passed I became
a bit of homebody. Kids can do that to you, living in new places without pals
and a knowledge of the lay of the land can do that to you, too. But life is
funny, the world loops around the sun and on the next go round things can change
again. Last year was quiet and home bound, a new job and a new town, this year I am going
with my partner to a little town called Lyons, to spend the night at a “hotel”
that specializes in little houses and to wander a wee town that has more than
its share of eateries, distilleries, craft brew houses and cannabis dispensaries.
All-in-all it promises to be a good time. My only hope is that somewhere
between there and home is a good little hole-in-the-wall taqueria with a decent
bowl of menudo waiting for me. A feel a good crudo coming on and it’s still a
week away!
I have had many New Year’s adventures over the years. Those
homebody ones were sweet, especially when the kids were little. What kid doesn’t
want to stay up late with his folks, drink sparkling apple juice and light off
strings of fire crackers at midnight? My parents were sleepy heads, never did a
damn thing with me, never watched Dick Clark and action at Times Square on the tube. My kids had a chance to see what life was like at the stroke of
twelve and while we haven’t had a chance to blow off bottle rockets for a few
years now they are always in my thoughts when the Roman candles or sparklers go
off at midnight.
I am truly happy to have made this far in life. 59 might be
the best year yet, but 59 would not have the shine that it does if it wasn’t
for all the mishaps and wild times that came before it. My partner and I were
talking about life the other night on a long drive home and she asked me if she
would have liked me when I was a younger man. That gave me pause. I have always
thought of myself as a wild kind of guy but these days I feel like such a
pussycat. When I really think about it I really don’t think I am much different
now than I was back then so I am sure that she would have thought the world of
me when I was in my 20’s or 30’s. I am sure that if she asked that same question
of my old pals they might raise their eyebrows as they raise a toast to us. No
use going back in the past, let us savor the present and be thankful for all
the white water that has tumbled away under THAT bridge!
Yeah, this New Year’s Eve will be different. This year I won’t
be stacking multiple bottles of bubbly in the snow outside my room up in Big
Bear Lake nor will I be heading out to the Mojave desert to ride motorcycles with
my father, Pappy and all his clan. I won’t be taking the train into Tokyo to
dance away the night with other gaigins in the Roppongi district nor will I be
heading up to the mountains north of that same city to go skiing with a bunch
of Japanese ski bums, college students and former Yakuza. This year I will not
be falling asleep with my feet propped up on a new mattress in a steam heat
apartment in Boise nor will I be falling asleep in an easy chair in a foggy
seaside town three hours before midnight. This year I will not poison myself
with too much tequila and throw up all over somebody’s yard. This year I will
not be hanging with a strange old pal and indulging in too many magic mushrooms.
I will not be out in the desert shooting off black powder pistols nor will I
get a “birthday spanking” from 30 or more very drunk motorcycle heads while my
dad, god bless his sorry ass, gets into a fight because he thought drinking his
three day ration of suds in one evening was a good idea.
This year I will not be attending a reggae show in Ashland, throwing a black tie house party in Santa Ana, watching fireworks below the Space Needle, knocking back cherry brandy while on watch on the Worm Island Bridge, dancing in a little bar in Boonville with my sweetie nor will be sipping Anchor Steam Christmas Ale
in a bar in the Haight Ashbury district of San Francisco. I will not be out climbing Mt Tamalpais or the Saddleback Mountains to celebrate my day. I will not be hiking the desert around Red Rock Canyon nor will I be walking along a beach in Fort Bragg but I will find someplace equally grand to walk with my
honey as a good long walk on New Year’s Day is a good thing to do and a wonderful
way to start the year.
No, this year will be different. I am settled now. I am
happy with my life, with my partner and where I live. Sure, it is almost time to
pull together that list of things to do for the coming new year but from here
it all looks good. I don’t have to go looking for trouble on my birthday nor do
I want it to come looking for me. I think that this year I will go into my 59th
year with my eyes wide open and my heart ready for whatever comes. I will spend
my birthday with my sweetheart, go see the Frieda Kahlo exhibit in Fort
Collins, sip some bubbly, nosh a bit of edibles, go find some sushi to eat and then settle into a bar
or some such thing walking distance from our digs. We are going to have the day
to ourselves and so we can cavort and be merry as only adults without kids can
do. Being an adult on your birthday is a sign of mature development and possibly
an older liver. But more than anything it a clear sign that you have already
done one hell of a lot and that there is nothing really left to prove anymore.
I am going into this new year with open eyes and heart that
is filled to bursting with love, happiness and a will to live. May your new
year be filled with delight and a zest for living as well!
Salud!
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