Milestone Birthdays and What We Do with Them

Our decades as road maps for our future

Photo of a map by Julentto Photography on Unsplash

When’s the last birthday you remember vividly?

Though I’ve had some good ones since then, my biggest birthday memory was turning twenty-one — but not for the drinking reason. I turned twenty-one while I was stage managing a cowboy musical full of saloons and sheriffs and piano vamping. It had amazing moments like the cast members rewriting a song from the show into a birthday song for me, a birthday cake appearing from thin air, and crew members taking me out after the notes were done. I felt appreciated, celebrated, and vibrant.

Now it’s twenty-nine years later and I’m turning the big 5–0.

I love it so much. It’s a birthday that suits me. I feel like we hit a high note at fifty, a pinnacle of history with ourselves, and a vitality that has yet to mellow.

There’s something to this time to be vigilant for, though. How some people turn a hard corner and the light goes out of them. How they suddenly decide to get old. It’s hard to watch but it’s often a choice. Social circles get smaller, interests change, people move in and out of life. It’s a time to pay attention. Or rather, attention must be paid.

Thirty is foundation. We’re going through the Saturn return and solidifying the…