CELEBRATE WHILE YOU CAN

A friend of mine recently said, “I don’t want to celebrate my birthday anymore, because I’m just too old.”  “Well,” I responded, “I for one am glad your parents had sex!” That visual stopped her in her tracks and she began to celebrate with an extra large martini.

No one is ever too old to commemorate a happy occasion, and it is selfish to deprive your friends of the opportunity to enjoy happy times in your life with you. That is, if you have any friends left after being such a sour puss.

Lord knows, there are enough bad times to go around, and every once in awhile, it’s good to remind ourselves to kick up our heels and have some fun. If you do that, with loving friends, and/or family, there will be plenty of good wishes to go around.

If someone is a good person, it is a joy to celebrate the day of his or her birth.  If someone is a rotten person, he is probably the result of parents who had sex only once in their lives, and didn’t like it very much. In that case it’s a good idea to throw a party and not invite him.

There are all kinds of anniversaries that offer another excuse to celebrate. I have known people who celebrate both their wedding anniversary and the anniversary of their divorce. Some people throw parties for pets.

I once had a neighbor who paid $5000.00 to have a portrait painted of her buck-toothed dog. The whole neighborhood was invited to celebrate the portrait unveiling. The painting wasn’t all that good, but the story of that party lives on.

Sometimes, when no one is available to celebrate an occasion with me, I take myself out for dinner and entertain myself. I make a toast to life---the one I’ve led so far, and to the right-now-day that I am living.

With all the joy and pain that life brings, I’m still grateful for each blessed day. I am glad that my parents knew each other in a Biblical way, since I can always celebrate them on my birthday.  I can also celebrate the birth of my baby brother, even though it took me awhile to understand that my parent’s gift to me came with a no return policy.

So, rejoice while you can---the blessings of family, friends and life itself. Take it from me; tears from laughter are the best kind.

Esther Blumenfeld