Rant #2,884: What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been

As I type out this Rant, it is another sleepless night for me, as it just past 1:30 a.m. in the morning.
 
But somehow, I am not that unhappy about the lack of sleep that I have had this evening, because today is my birthday.
 
I finally reached the big 6-5, and heck, having been up since just before midnight has its benefits today.
 
I was actually up at the precise moment, 65 years ago in 1957, when I was born.
 
According to my mom, on April 27, 1957, she and my father were eating dinner at between 5 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., and then a little later in the evening, my mother told my dad that the time had come.
 
I estimate, based on what my mother told me, that this was probably around 11:15 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. on April 27, but whatever time it actually was, they went to the hospital, and I was born at 12 midnight give or take a couple of seconds or minutes after, on April 28.
 
Fast forward to 2022 … I fell asleep at about 8:45 p.m. or so, and not that I planned it this way, but I woke up literally at 11:59 p.m.
 
I could not go right back to sleep, so I was up at the precise moment after 12 midnight that I turned 65.
 
That was great, but then, I tossed and turned for the next hour and a half, and here I find myself at 1:30 a.m. on the computer and typing out my birthday Rant—and that is after a day where I was very busy with work, where I wrote up an original story about a conference I covered and then edited a couple of stories as the cherry on top for my last day as a 64 year old.
 
I guess I should be tired, but I’m not … maybe I am just a bit wired right now.
 
I love birthdays, always have and always will.
 
It is my special day, a year older and a year wiser, and this latest birthday is truly a special one.
 
I look back at my 65 years, and honestly, even with all the ups and downs, I don’t think I would trade a minute of it.
 
It is my belief that I was born at just the right time, fitting right into the younger portion of the Baby Boomer generation—too young to get the full thrust of my generation—Vietnam, anyone?—but too old not to notice things as they unfolded before me.
 
I remember that war, and how it fractured us as a nation.
 
I remember President John F Kennedy being shot to death, and yes, also the deaths of Robert Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
 
I remember race riots, I remember teacher strikes and I remember the Challenger disaster.
 
On a more personal level, I remember my divorce, and I remember losing my job and being at the lowest point in my life.
 
I also remember meeting the girl of my dreams and marrying her, and I remember the birth of my two kids.
 
I also remember all the friends I have had throughout my life, some of whom I have known since I am seven years old.
 
I will never forget my father—my everlasting hero—and I will certainly never forget my grandparents.
 
And I will never forget how lucky I have been throughout my life, with the greatest luck being the strong family I was born into, and having my parents go through my ups and downs with me.
 
And who could be more fortunate than I—and my sister, for that matter—to have my mother as healthy and vibrant as one could be?
 
And she, and many of my family members and friends, will help me celebrate my birthday, which we will do on Saturday afternoon.
 
That should be a fun day, and look on Facebook … I suspect that there will be some things put up there on that day that you might be interested in.
 
As for today, it probably won’t be as busy with my little job as I was yesterday, so I will do what I have to do with that work, but Thursdays are normally busy for me, and I don’t think today will be any exception.
 
After getting up from bed—hopefully I can catch some shut-eye a little bit later—and showering and having breakfast, my wife and I will take our son to work, and then go off to do our grocery shopping.
 
On the way home from that, I will fill up my tank with gas, and then we will go home, put everything away in its proper place, have some lunch, check on the work I have to do today, and later, pick up my son from work.
 
The Yankees play an afternoon game today, so after getting my son from work and taking him to do his own shopping—yes, he does shop for some of his own groceries—maybe I can watch some of the game.
 
Then later, after dinner and a birthday cake, I will watch a little more TV and then conk out like I normally do.
 
So there is my birthday day.
 
One thing I will absolutely not do is shave today.
 
Thursdays are my shaving day—Sunday and Thursday each week since I lost my job, as when I was working full-time, I added Tuesdays as another shaving day—but since today is my birthday, there is no way I am going to ruin it by shaving.
 
No way … I will actually skip Friday, too, and shave on Saturday, as that is when we are having my party, so I want to be clean shaven that day for sure.
 
And it is a dedicated birthday party ... I want no mention of “retirement” on that day, because quite frankly, as long as I can possibly do it, I will never fully retire … not because I don’t want to, but because I can’t.
 
More to the point, I was forced into early retirement, so why soil the special birthday with any mention of that word?
 
So there you have it.
 
Thanks for all the birthday wishes I might get here, thanks for hearing me out each weekday here at the Ranting and Raving Blog, and thanks for going with me on this journey I have been on for the past 65 years, in one way or another.
 
I really do appreciate it.
 
“What a long, strange trip it’s been.”