Day 318 Milestones

October 23, 2015

(If we live with an open and grateful attitude, every day will bring a gift. This is one of 365 gifts during the year I turned 70.)

If a day can have a theme, my today centered on first year milestones.

At lunch a group of us talked about alcohol and other addictions where even such a small increment as one day is cause to celebrate freedom from dependency. Most people, however, look at the one-year mark as most significant. We hear comments such as, “This is my first year cancer-free” or “I’ve gone a year without smoking.”

We celebrate a baby’s first birthday and a couple’s first anniversary as benchmarks toward a positive future. Some even celebrate survival anniversaries such as surviving a first year in a difficult job or a first year on your own.

Tonight, our former son-in-law and now daughter-in-law celebrated her 42^nd birthday and her first birthday as a woman. It was heart-warming to see so many of her old and new friends there to support her. 

It is interesting that in my Defining Ourselves project, only 13% of respondents used gender as part of their self-definitions and they were not the two transgendered participants. Perhaps this is because newer daily milestones, both large and small, mingle with those from the past to continue to evolve and shape who we are. 

Sooner or later we all discover that the important moments in life are not the advertised ones, not the birthdays, the graduations, the weddings, not the great goals achieved. The real milestones are less prepossessing. They come to the door of memory unannounced, stray dogs that amble in, sniff around a bit and simply never leave. Our lives are measured by these.” ~ Susan B. Anthony

 My gift today is a piece of  birthday cake.

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> Day 319: Giving

You can find links to my other posts on this project here:
http://bjschupp.blogspot.com/2014/12/365-gifts.html