The Birthday Blog Post
January is the month my birthday happens to fall in. To get a better understanding of how I felt about my birthday this year, I’ll share the poem I wrote for it. FYI, though, I already shared this on the Facebook Page, so if you aren’t following that yet, go do that now!
“Happy Birthday To Me”
Twenty-nine years today
have come and gone.
I can’t believe that I
have lived this long.
Eighteen years, I thought,
was enough. What will become
waits for us.
Eleven years more, I
have gotten past that.
Over four hundred bright
new days I have seen with
all their clumsy blessings.
Just shy of one thousand
hours I almost didn’t see.
I have decided to keep running.
All the endless possibilities and
beauty I never could see
before I truly started living.
Eleven. Eighteen.
Twenty-nine.
As you can see in the poem, my twenty-ninth birthday had me feeling more introspective this year than in years past. I woke up that day, January seventeenth, and instantly had this poem written in my mind. I thought of all the what-ifs and things I may not have gotten to see. Ultimately, I just felt blessed.
I should probably back up just in case you don’t know my story and I will do that by sharing another one of my poems.
“As I Lay me Down”
As I lay me down to sleep
One last post to
his Facebook feed.
I pray the Lord my soul to keep
He types, clutching a bottle of
pills ready.
But if I should die
before I wake
He hits post and
hopes for his end.
I pray God my soul
will take
He’d rather die than keep
making countless mistakes.
But if I should live for other
days, I pray
The Lord guide my way
And here I am still today.
I was Eighteen, a high school dropout, and a disappointment to myself. I didn’t think I could turn my life around, so I did what I did.
As I said, though, this year, on my birthday, I woke up just feeling blessed, utterly aware of how incredibly wrong I was back then and how fortunate and lucky I am. I am proud to say that even though I have not completely turned my life around, I am in the process. I am months away from graduating with a college degree with honors in April. I have made the President list at SNHU on multiple occasions.
I have just been taking that this month and thinking, WOW. If only eighteen-year-old me knew. I was not done then, not by longshot, nor am I even close to it now. That’s life, and that’s beautiful.
So often, I hear the phrase ‘just another day’ in regard to our birthdays, and while I understand the sentiment, I ask you to think of this blog the next time you say start to say that. Yes, it is ‘just another day,’ but that is amazing and wonderful. Let’s not let the fact that making it to another year of existence is miraculous no matter the age because who knows when our days are no more.
What I’m Currently Working on
Currently, I am in week four of eight of two courses at SNHU, Advanced Fiction Writing Workshop and Seminar in American Literature, instructed by Professor Abigail Rose-Marie and Jacqueline Smith. As always, to follow my progression or what I am doing, you can head over to the Works in Progress Page or follow the Facebook Page where I post updates and share fun tidbits daily.
Author Recommendation
As this is my birthday month, I am going to recommend my favorite author/poet and biggest inspiration, Shel Silverstein. I do not believe you are ever too old or too young for Shel Silverstein. It also just so happens to be Where the Sidewalk Ends fiftieth birthday this month as well too, so it’s appropriate. Several of Silverstien’s works celebrate milestones this year, so make sure to go follow the official Shel Silverstien Facebook Page!
Poem for the Month
Similar to Shel Silverstein, with it being my birthday month, I am going to share one of my favorite poets and inspirations here. Lucille Clifton. I also used these two poems as references for my earlier shared birthday poem, so go read both and see if you can find the references! birth-day and poem on my fortieth birthday.
JustLj.com 