Feeling Old Because of Someone Else's Birthday

It’s Steven’s 22nd birthday today. It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was looking at his little gnome-like baby face and trying to decide what to name him. Since today is also Bastille Day, I thought about naming him Jean Claude. But, we’re not French so that would have been just silly. I also thought Brewster would be a cool name, especially when he was in college and everyone could call him Brewski. Brewster would have been just silly, too, but I still like it.

I actually had Patrick or Justin picked out and decided whichever one he looked more like would be it. However, he didn’t look like either name. Probably should have been the first clue that he was not going to conform to what I wanted for the rest of our lives. Finally, I decided to reverse my Dad’s name, Charles Stephen, and go with Steven Charles. I gave him the easier spelling, mostly because I didn’t want kids to call him Step Hen, especially since he was going to be stuck with Pfister (a name no one can spell or pronounce). One of my friends ran into my parents in the hospital lobby and told my Dad the name and my Dad cried. He’s such a marshmallow, which explains a lot as to how I got to be so spoiled.

But, that’s not the birthday that’s making me feel old.

Steven shares his birthday with my oldest cousin, Mark.

Mark is 50 this year. 50!!!

That’s the birthday that’s making me feel old. I have lots of friends in their 50s (and 60s, too). I don’t really consider them a generation older than me like my parents are, it’s more like half a generation. (Yeah, they pretty much don’t like it that I think that way but they humor me in my delusions of youth.)

But, my cousin? Dang, there’s no way to deny we’re the same generation. And that generation is hitting the half-century mark. The only thing I can find comfort in is that if you ranked my cousins by age, I fall into the younger half. Not by much but enough to let me continue the charade that I’m not old, nor getting old, nor even close to someday getting old.

Sigh. It’s getting harder and harder to stay in denial about this aging thing but I’m still determined to do so and I’m nothing if not stubborn.

Happy Birthday, Steven and Mark!

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