It’s funny how a birthday can immediately make you feel older. You did all the aging over the past year, but in your mind you were still able to say, “Oh I’m THIS age, not THAT age.” Once the 
birthday passes, you have no choice but to accept that you’re older. You have to scroll down just a little farther when putting in your age on a website – maybe you’re in a completely different group if they do it by age range.
If you’re like me, you also realize how many services and mailing lists you’re signed up for that you had forgotten about. Places were coming out of the digital woodwork to offer me 10 percent off something or a free appetizer or nothing at all except birthday wishes. I took a couple of them up on their offer, because why not? Maybe in a year I’ll forget about them again and we can do this whole thing over.
I’ve had a few birthday milestones over my life. When I was 5, my mom made a display-worthy dinosaur cake. At 13, some friends and I went to Medieval Times for the first time. I don’t believe our knight won, and I had a hard time negotiating the chicken that wasn’t already pulled apart for me, but it was a memorable experience. Of course at 16, I was old enough to drive, but I wouldn’t actually get my license for a few months. There’s the 21st birthday of course, which is memorable to me mostly because I met another friend who had the same birthday as I did. We were both pretty excited about that.
After that, they’re all just a blur. 21 is the last big milestone until you get to 40 or 50 it seems. At that point, you’re an adult and birthdays are for maybe going out to dinner with your friends and hoping they’ll pick up the check for you. That free appetizer I got in my email comes in handy then.
Matt Stoker
