A Golden Birthday

Today marks another monument in big days for the people I know and love. For today, Josh Mifflin celebrates a golden birthday. I've come to learn through my life that not everyone knows this term, so let me explain. A golden birthday is an arbitrary thing that we assign extra meaning to, but I think that probably makes it cooler. You celebrate your golden birthday when your age matches the number of the day in the month.

So for example, today is August 27 and Josh turns 27. Golden birthday.

Like I said, arbitrary.

Also like I said, I think it's still pretty awesome. Except for maybe the people who are born in the first 10 or so days of a month. Probably not as grand for them.

Anyway, today is Josh's golden birthday. For those of you who are reading this and don't know Josh, I'd recommend getting to know him. He's got a heart like a speeding bullet and an energy you couldn't put down with an elephant tranquilizer. And boy, does he love some chocolate and bacon and pizza, so obviously he has good taste.

He's a good friend who wants everyone around him to be happy and everything around him to be made right or better. He writes the blog Coffee Break Writing (which needs a new post, dang it!) and I managed to convince him that he should be reading comics when I am. Like I said, he has good taste.

Josh has been there for the times I've bounced off the walls with happiness and the times I cried on my couch because I just couldn't get it. Josh has seen my best and my worst and that sometimes, those two can look all too similar and he's still decided he's gonna be my friend.

The joke there would be that obviously, he has good taste. I think it means he must be a little crazy.

But I'm a little crazy too.

So take some time to celebrate with Josh today. Or celebrate your own best friends. I don't care what you do, really. I'm not the boss of you.

But this is life and it's the only one we've got and if we don't celebrate the most arbitrary of things like the alignment of two numbers, then what are we really doing?

If we don't dance around the room and eat some chocolate even though it's a few extra calories every chance that we get, what exactly is this life for?

Because I'll tell you a little secret about Josh. He's a good man. I know he is. But that hasn't stopped him from desiring every little thing that this life could and should give him. He knows that "good" and "happy" aren't mutually exclusive.

He knows that it's not selfish to ask for more. He knows that better's out there and it's not gonna be good enough until he finds it.

That, my friends, is something worth celebrating.

Happy birthday, Josh.