||| BY LIN MCNULTY, theORCASONIAN EDITOR |||

Today is my 75th birthday. And for probably 50 or more years, I have been saying that on the first day of each year I should send my friends a birthday card; after all, they remember MY birthday and I’m horrible about remembering anyone else’s. I do acknowledge that the date of my birthday makes it easier, but still I could probably try harder.

I had thought I would have a bit of a birthday party this year when of course I would wish anyone in attendance best wishes for the coming year. So, finally, today is the day that I wish anyone who will have a birthday in 2021 a genuine Happy Birthday by sharing the essence of The Four Agreements, a book by Don Miguel Ruiz, that literally changed my life with “Don’t Take Anything Personally.” Boy what a game changer!

Before anyone gets too excited about having a birthday on January 1, if you go back exactly nine months to the date of conception, it was April Fools Day. That may explain a lot. And January 1, 1946 is the date of the first baby boomers. Of course, my dad would always complain that I messed up his tax deduction for 1945 by waiting until after midnight to make my entrance. For years, I felt somewhat guilty for that until I realized in my late teens that he got a tax deduction for me at the end rather than at the beginning.

Sincere birthday wishes to all. And good on all of us for surviving 2020.


 

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