A Birthday to Remember…
2024
Most people are blessed on their birthdays,
and they are celebrated for their presence
and the Gift their life has been to others.
I have always wondered what that would be like.
Being celebrated just to be alive, being present,
and have a day of the year where my life,
my presence truly mattered to others.
But my birthdays have always been
unacknowledged. Days that are ignored
and brushed to the wayside, just another
day that is irrelevant and meaningless.
This birthday was spent cleaning up after an
elderly gentleman all day. What a way to
spend it. No one noticed, or even cared.
It has always been one sided. I always
remember everyone’s birthdays, anniversaries,
holidays and so forth, but mine goes by unnoticed.
Mine is silent. Just another day to make quite
clear that my presence has never mattered to anyone.
And this year, a mirror of last year (with the
exception of being inside this year) … were spent
taking care of Paul’s dad and cleaning up after him,
and the crap covered bathroom, doing his laundry.
The one positive about his dad is he is polite.
I realize how difficult it is for his dad to have a
female cleaning him and cleaning up after him.
I direct him to do what he can to help lessen
the effect of having me bathe and clothe him.
But the constant cleanup makes it a real
challenge to be grateful being here. I am
grateful, though. And having the reprieve,
however temporary it may be, from the
streets, fills my heart with gratitude.
Room and Board in exchange for taking
care of and cleaning up after his elderly father.
And though this was not the birthday I ever dreamed
of, it is finally one that is not spent on the streets,
and free of the endless harassment, and that is a Gift.
Even though my birthday continues in silence
with no acknowledgment, it is the first one in nearly
a Quarter of a Century where it
is inside.
A Birthday to remember.
