32 times around the sun

The other day Jacob asked me why he was three. 

"Well," I said, "it's because you were born and then a day went by and then another and another and after 365 of them, you'd been around the sun one whole time. That's a year. Then you went through another 365 days and you'd been around 2 times. It happened again and then you'd been around 3 times. So, because you've been around the sun three times and each time is a whole year long, that's why you're three." Maybe a little complex for a three-year-old, but he seemed to like it.

That got me thinking, though, because my birthday was coming up. It's fun to think that I've been on this orbiting planet now for 32 times around the sun. Days, months, seasons, years. We measure time in many ways. And it can be a little bittersweet thinking of the years going by, getting steadily larger. But after all, that's the point. To be here. To be growing, learning, aging, being. Why not celebrate that? 

I read a marvelous quote the other day: "The thing is, we think we have time." Indeed. What we really have is now. Wherever we are on our elliptical journeys, we have the here and now. Embrace it. Live it. Celebrate it.