Today I’m not just another day older; I’m not just another year older either. I’ve entered a new decade. But I don’t feel any different today than I did yesterday. Or the day before yesterday for that matter. Actually, I don’t feel any different to any other day in the past ten years. To be honest with you, I feel pretty much the same every morning I wake up. Well… 

There have been a few mornings where the night before has caught up to me and I’ve felt like death warmed over in an early prototype microwave, but I knew what the problem was then. Both times I ran a marathon I woke up the next day and felt as flexible as a fence post, every muscle in my legs about as rigid as Nurse Rachett from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, but again, I knew why I was suffering. I brought those mornings on myself. 

I’ve also woken up sick, sniffling, a reliable bucket beside the bed in case I couldn’t make it down the hall to the bathroom. I felt different on those days, I can assure you of that. Some of those mornings I expected, the gradual betrayal of my immune system creeping slower than a one legged millipede through fresh peat moss, beckoning my impeding stomach troubles. Other times it would hit me like a thief in the night – out of the blue and every bit as cowardly.  

But that’s not how I woke up today. Today I woke up refreshed and chipper; despite being at a shopping mall until midnight last night. My birthday this year fell during Ramadan so I had to wait until after evening prayer to go shopping. I could have stayed until 2 in the morning if I wanted but chose to go home instead. The hardest part of today was not being able to get donuts for my work group to share with me. I think I survived that part though. 

I’m about to go out to dinner with Kirsty and some friends. We’ve all been out to dinner before, at the same restaurant even, only today will be all about me though. I kind of like that, I’m not going to lie. I’m a Leo after all. I’m supposed to love the spotlight and the attention. And damn it, I do. 

I’ve heard that life begins at 40. I plan to put that theory to the ultimate test. And if life begins at 40, the previous 39 years and 365 days of my pre-life existence have left with an incredible bar to reach. Yeah, they were that good. Here’s hoping the next 39 years and 365 days are as good to me and you and yours as my pre-life ones were. 

Cheers