Older

"You're older than you've ever been
and now you're even older"
~Older, by They Might Be Giants

At one point in your life people actually counted your age by days. I remember telling people Isaac and Sofi were only two or three days old.

In a very short amount of time that changes to weeks. Counting by weeks hangs in there for a while, because so many doctors and pediatric books track development by weeks. But eventually that gets too hard to track, and your age is tracked in months. Isaac is 10 months old right now.

Me, I'm 420 months old, as of today. Not that anyone is counting that high, because eventually months become too unwieldy as well, and it all comes down to years. And for me, the years have piled up to the point now that I've actually lost track. I used to know, very firmly, and could recall without hesitation how old I was. Now, in order to tell you how old I am, I actually have to run the math. I have to subtract the previous or current year by the year I was born. The years too are starting to become a bit unwieldy to simply remember the number. All that I am able to remember is that I'm in my 30's.

So what do I want for my birthday? Not much new, same old same old, that is to say I basically want new music. But what I've decided to give myself this year is time. I've asked Loie, a friend from church, to watch the kids this morning, and I'm using that time right now to 1) blog this and 2) clean.

Ah, time and cleaning for a birthday gift. Truly, I am older.