Today isn’t just like any other day. Today is my birthday. Today is also my first, and hopefully only, birthday during a widespread pandemic. As I sit here this morning, I have been reflecting on a lot of things. This is set to be the most understated birthday I’ve ever had, and I am surprisingly fine with that. There will be no parties, no visitors, and no decorated cake, despite it being a tradition in our home. There will just be one gift, instead of many, because both of my parents and I can’t work right now during the pandemic. I assured them that it is fine, and it is.

Dear friends of the world-that-is-your-own-and-not-mine,

How odd it is to turn -32. The troubles of this world seem hardly surmountable at this age in life. Each three-hundred-and-sixty-five days, poor me, but I lose one year of my life. That’s how negatives work, you see. -33 become -32, and -32 become -31, and so on. I know, you are thinking “wouldn’t that mean she gains a year?” Ah! You are thinking in terms of your world. In mine, things work…a bit backwards from yours. I think.

On June 10th, we are celebrating the first birthday of my little brother, James Theophilus Andrews. I am writing this to tell the story of his first year of life, and I hope no one will find it dull :) 

James was the fourth of my siblings to be delivered at home by my dad. It started with Matthew. The midwife couldn't get to our house in time, so Pa really had no choice. That was in Jacksonville, Florida. 

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This week I'll turn sixteen. Apparently that's a big milestone. In most states, you can start driving when you're sixteen; you can get a job; you start looking at colleges and planning for the future. For some reason, it's more of a big deal for girls than it is for boys. I guess it's like a modern-day coming-out....our new version of "You're a lady now".

Suddenly it becomes real:
life is finite, life is
one-third over, wrinkles
and gray hair are possible.

The magazine ad suggests things
to do while still alive, none of
which are checked off--begging
the question: what have I been doing?

Before this new decade
is over, I'll be called
Mom. I'm not ready, how
did three tens happen?