BEIER COLUMN: Getting the most out of a working birthday

I enjoy my birthday each year.

I do still get excited to know which day of the week it falls and how close I can get to Easter.

Oh, my birthday is April 16. And, as a kid, I thought having your birthday on Christmas was better than winning the lottery. What seemed like the second-best holiday to fall on was Easter, and it didn’t take me long to realize that every so many years, I get my day on, what I thought, was the second-best gift getting holiday.

This year I was one day shy of Easter. It’s fine. I want my Easter/birthday overlap days to be special and if my birthday, if it’s actually Easter, doesn’t allow me to have what I really want for my annual ‘getting older’ day.

Most people want this idea of a lazy day that they spend on themselves when their birthday comes around. Me, no. That’s not what I want at all.

My idea of the perfect birthday (which is nearly identical to my idea of a perfect Saturday) is work. It’s having events to hop around to, to photograph, to cover from 8 in the morning to 9 at night. That sounds like the best way to spend my day.

This year I didn’t get that opportunity. I thought that weather and the Easter holiday would actually clean my slate and I would have to figure out what to do as I sat idle.

At the last moment, I found that my Viterbo baseball and softball teams both had home series and, therefore, my crisis was averted.

Sure, Saturday was windy, chilly and not ideal for either sport, but I pushed through and watched three hours or so of ball. It was an afternoon where I didn’t really have to divide my time 10 ways past Sunday, and in that simplicity, there was solace, despite the weather.

Was my day the best ever? No. I didn’t use my talents to their utmost. However, that’s just it, I don’t want to sit idly by, I want to get out and live and do and create each day.

Our current weather impedes my motivation, for sure, but I know that my time is coming where I have to share all of what I can to stay up with our crazy sports schedule that’s coming down the pipeline.

It’s another year, sure. That doesn’t mean I get to put my feet up yet. Sharing the spoils of my work with you is a gift that continues to give all year long. I hope you enjoy it.