Birthday

I just celebrated a birthday a few days ago and this year it was particularly significant - though every birthday is significant to us all. This birthday signified just reaching it - I told my family that I had to work hard to get to that day and I had them to thank for it. I decided from now on I wouldn't fret about age - not that I usually do but I am still in great denial I am in this particular decade as despite all my body and mind has been through since October, I still feel 15 years younger than my actual age!

Anyway, about the age thing.... About ten years ago I was a freelance proofreader at a direct marketing company and there was a woman who worked there who was a cancer warrior. She came to work every day wearing her head scarf and a smile. Her strong and positive attitude inspired me. She was a copywriter like myself and a beautiful artist. On my birthday when the office all signed a card for me she wrote something that has stayed strong with me ever since - something along the lines of "keep getting old." No one had ever written anything like in a birthday card to me - not then and not since and it was powerful to me because I knew she was battling cancer and she knew the significance of reaching a birthday and getting older and how special that actually is. It resonated so strongly with me, I wrote down her words on a Post-it and kept it on my desk all these years later. Little did I know how much I would one day relate to that. Sad to say, years after I left that job, I heard she passed away and though I didn't know her that well, it really affected me. I wish I could tell her how much she inspired me then and now.... Thank you, Jane.