Life’s Anniversary

Every year, a birthday comes to everyone.

When I was small, my birthday was a special day: my mother’s handmade dishes and a cake were prepared, close friends were invited for boisterous merrymaking, and at night the family celebrated all over again. But as the years piled up, the joy and emotion of a birthday gradually faded, and now it has become a day of no consequence.

When, for work, I had a conversation with a woman—a former Hollywood makeup artist, youthful in both mind and body though past 80—the talk happened to turn to birthdays.

She said,

“The secret to a long life is to forget your birthday and live every day meaningfully and joyfully—that’s why I don’t even know how old I am now,” and I felt her way of living was so wonderful that I thought in my heart, I’ll live like that from now on, too.

But even if I forget my own birthday, my family and my colleagues at work kindly celebrate with a surprise “Happy Birthday”—so what a happy and unlucky fellow I am.