Today is my birthday, and I am bonkers about my birthday. More than one person has pointed out to me that it is inappropriate for a woman in her forties to celebrate her birthday as exuberantly as I do. I celebrate Birthday Month, Birthday Week, and Birthday Eve. No, it isn’t because I’m ridiculously self-centered. It is because, somewhere along the way, I realized that birthdays are a celebration of life and should be a big deal at any age. So what if I gleefully erupt with party girl joy every March? I’m happy to be alive, to have another year to experience life.

My response to these grumpy pants people who think multiple adult birthday markers are gauche is that I don’t care what you think. Life is here to be lived, and birthdays, at whatever age, are a reminder to seize life and live it with relish. If it’s your birthday today (or anywhere close – like sometime this year), go toast yourself and your life. It will be an anonymous birthday gift to me, and somehow it will make me smile.