It’s early for most of you by the time you read this post, and being as it’s a Monday, I figured there would have really been no chance of getting any of you out for a drink so early in the week.  Thanks for the birthday wishes that have come in thus far.  Really it is just another day…and as for being special, we all share our birthdays with many other people.  Simple math puts it at about 16 million people all being told they are special on this very day.

Getting away from the regular routine does seem to make this year a bit different, and some might call that special.  The special part of this year, the Tower of Pisa.  It’s not quite the local pub where we usually gather.  I don’t see tequila shots lined up as ‘presents’ for those considerate enough to not buy kitschy crap that would likely be regifted at the first opportunity.  Just Melanie and I taking in a day trip to a nearby sight, on a sunny November day, not overrun with tourists…and near vacant making the site almost all to ourselves.  If someone could have wrapped a bow around it, I guess that would be a gift I would have to keep.

Why do we do the birthday thing anyways.  Gather a few friends, use it as an excuse to go out. I am thinking that there really shouldn’t be the requirement for an excuse to go out only because there are so many great things out there to go and experience.  Dinner at a random restaurant, whether good or bad, a walk down chilly streets under the clouded moonlight, maybe it’s just a picnic in the park.  I am thinking a coffee in a downtown hotel with a guy on piano for the afternoons is something to seek out when getting back.  Those moments really make a day special, which means it doesn’t even need to be a birthday.

How many candles are required on that cake before we start realizing the simple things really are the best?  The train ride back from Pisa had a bunch of American kids heading back into Firenze for school.  You say ‘How cool would that be to do a year or two of university in Italy’ and I say…about as fun as most of life is when you’re in your early twenties.  I could guess that maybe a few late nights, followed with sleeping in and nursing of a hangover would bring those memories flooding back.  Add awkwardness around girls, combined with perfecting that ultra cool look that defines that scholastic period of life.  A look that disappears all to quickly when the only jobs you could get involved flipping burgers or moving boxes around in a warehouse.  I always thought that magic number of candles to realization was 25.

We’re well past 25 now, and with that comes a few aching joints and a healthy respect for knowledge and experience.  Observational skills seem to be significantly better than those distracted days of high school and actual areas of interest.  I can remember learning the facts required just to pass a test, then quickly purge the brain with puzzles or video games.  Being as we’re now in the midst of what those social studies and history books were talking about, it’s hard to imagine ever going back to that relative ignorance.

More candles are always great.  Give me a chance to rebuild my joints and I’ll keep this experience forever.  Maybe even find a little inspiration from being in the shadows of streets once walked by Michelangelo and Da Vinci.  That Galileo guy apparently also used to spend a little time around these parts, amongst many more.