Gratitude and birthdays

Gratitude and birthdays: Distinctly Catholic: Today is my 55th birthday. As a young man, I did not celebrate birthdays. Now, though, I take the day as a chance to be grateful.

MGB:_Happy Birthday and thank you for your work.



I always loved birthdays growing up because my parents got me a gift from each of my siblings and I was the oldest of five, which means age was also a measure of dominance. Nowadays, my siblings let my birthday go by unacknowledged. Of course, as a late November baby, my birhtday was sometimes mixed with Thanksgiving, so if my sister hosts, I always get a card and gift card. (I am poor and need the Starbucks cred). My child also remembers my birhtday, which makes it particularly sweet.



My favorite part of my birthday used to be calling my mother at the time of my birth and thanking her.  My 50th birthday should have been a great milestone, but it wasn’t. My mother had died the prior summer, I had suffered as nervous breakdown and my meds were wrong, making me emotionally sensative. It was my worst birthday ever. They are better now.



I am also grateful for my faith, both because I know that my Savior lives, and with Him, my parents, but because it is mine as much it is Raymond Burkes. His red dress provides him with an opportunity for service, not more ownership. If only he would see that.