Ted Kooser Taught Me How To Enjoy A Birthday.

From an adrenaline fueled storm of heart beats beneath superficial lights, breathing in smoke and gasoline, breathing in the thrum of engines, to the cool shade of a tree on the edge of a field, face down in the freshly cut grass in the afternoon where my heart must have stopped. I'd forgotten how tired just living makes me.

I've woken up though, it's morning, cold and bright. And it's my birthday. That doesn't happen all too often.

Whenever it's anyone else's birthday, I'll ask them if they feel any older, half jokingly, but they never say yes. If someone were to ask me, I think I'd always say yes.

A beautiful friend of mine recently said something that really resonated in me, " I must be young if I can still get excited about feeling old."