These days, I sometimes forget Other People’s Birthdays (OPB). I do, somewhere, have list of family and friends whose special days I would like to jointly celebrate with a card or phone call or in some way send my loving greetings. I really don’t ‘do’ Facebook or any of that modern new ‘e-stuff’. I’ll admit that email is my preferred communicator, and I only begrudgingly (and hardly cope with) mobile phone stuff. And I’m not quite organised enough to deal with all the seemingly hundreds of birthdays and anniversaries and appointments and due dates and, and,…. Perhaps it’s because there are six or seven special places where I might have stored those OPB list/s that I don’t find any of them until after the event. And it’s not the same, is it, to phone or send a card a week or a month later, saying “Sorry, I forgot your birthday, but I really do still love you”? No, I’m guessing you’d agree, it’s better to let it slide, and move on….

That’s one of the reasons I am writing this piece. It’s especially for Axxx, one of my seven beautiful granddaughters. I can’t remember the other reasons, but one is that I simply couldn’t send her a card in time. And anyway, I forgot, and I can’t get to a post office in time and, even if I could, I can’t – because of COVID (I’ll write more about that later!)

Look, I know birthdays are always special, but the rest of you, my mob and my friends, shouldn’t expect this sort of Special Birthday Greeting posted on ‘the Web’- it’s definitely not going to happen! My OPB list it would keep me just too busy and I’d never get ANYTHING done! Get real, time is so precious when you are retired. Remember that Axxx! But I do want you to know, my gorgeous-almost-favourite (dare not upset the other lot) granddaughter, I love you. And I know this birthday marks your significant decade as a “Lifetime Achievement” and it’s also your first since your marriage to Jxxxxx. What a year it’s been! I do hope you will be able celebrate tomorrow, Thursday – seize it and share it (well, wear a mask when possible!). You can also use this day as a chance to pause and review your life journey, to savour the joyful times, learn from the other times; and to go forth, with your loving Jxxxxx by your side, onwards into your renewed year.

My personal birthday present for you, Axxx, is that you will be refreshed and ready to enjoy the challenges, opportunities, and achievements over the next dozen decades; and always remember that it’s the shared moments that are the best and most memorable.

Each birthday is as good a time as any, I think, for all of us all to reflect on our journey in life. The year since your last birthday may have passed like the blink of an eye, or it may have seemed like a hundred years, it’s different for each of us and at each stage of life – time is funny like that. But everything that ever happened in our life has made and shaped us – and hopefully improved us. This day is also a wonderful time to remember and savour the joyful times past, to plan ahead, and resolve to accept the things that can’t be changed. Then we can start our own ‘personal new year’ with a heart full of blessings from God to enrich and equip us to do only good things in the years ahead. It’s certainly an appropriate time to make a ‘new birthday resolution’ or to simply look for a way to renew (or refresh or re-charge or revise) an old ‘forgotten’ one!

For me personally, birthdays help me to recall happy memories – the best gifts of all – and the sweetest. Cherish them, Axxx, as I do. And one day, like me, you’ll have a great granddaughter, or more, to add to your OPB list/s……. Who knows?