Saturday, April 12, 2008

Thirty Seven

Today I turned thirty-seven.
I have been married for almost fifteen years.
My daughter is ten.
My son is seven.

I have been in ministry for fifteen years.
Pastoral ministry for eight years.
Ordained for almost one.

I have one Bachelor's
and two Master's
degrees.

I have conducted a performance of
Mozart's Requiem.

I have been in 18 countries
and 43 states.

I have played Harold Hill.

I have had singing.

The thirty-six to thirty-seven birthday
is not a "biggie."
I don't qualify for anything new.
I don't gain a privilege.
It doesn't end in zero.

But it is nonetheless a good day.

Today I ate breakfast with my son at church.
I helped my daughter set up her new soccer goal.
Then it started snowing and so she went inside.
So I helped some friends haul brush.
(Yep, it was still snowing.)

Then my family took me out to lunch
at Lulu's Noodles downtown.

There were presents and cards
and phone calls.

I played
Trivial Pursuit: Star Wars Edition
with my son.
He let me go first, since it was my birthday.

There was Saturday night worship
with cake.

When you are a thirty-seven year old
pastor,
people in the congregation think
one of two things:
You are young.
or
You are old.

When I ask,
How old do you think I am?
older people guess too young
and younger people guess too old.

I can still run up stairs
two at a time.

And I enjoy an occasional
afternoon nap.

I am thirty-seven years old.
And it's all good.

15 comments:

kc bob said...

One of your best posts Andy! Very transparent and beautifully written.

Happy Belated Birthday!

And yes.. I thought that you were younger.. but then again you were only 36 a few days ago :)

Anonymous said...

Lulu's is a great place to eat lunch! I venture there when I need a get away from work.

Oh, Happy Birthday, too!! I find that the older I get (way past you) the less eventful, even when there is a zero on the end. I also am not interested in the guesses on my years on earth. Why invite that frustration!!

Diana

Adam said...

here's to our parents procreating on similar timelines! happy birthday! april 12, what a great day.

Anonymous said...

I would have to say that if you add 3 and 7 you get 10...10 is whole, and it does end in 0. It's a year of wholeness! 2 and 3 only add up to 5...i am half the man you are!

peace

jz

Anonymous said...

Andy:

Beautiful post!

Wowza! 15 years of marriage at age 37. I started marriage at 36; tenth anniversary next month with four little ones in tow! (I like to blame my mom for the late start after all of those lectures I endured as a teenager.)

Your son letting you go first since it was your birthday...PRICELESS!

God is good.

Best,
Joseph

Adam Caldwell said...

Hey...I too played Harold Hill...we have much more in common than we ever dreamed of...of course I am still a relevant young adult and you...well...much love!

Unknown said...

Happy b-day, man. Sorry I missed it. We'll definitely see you this coming Saturday.

~DB

DogBlogger said...

Happy birthday, Andy. And what a great way to share it with us.

Andy B. said...

Adam Caldwell -
You got trouble, my friend...

Andy B. said...

Other Adam -
Eww. Let us never speak of this again.

Adam said...

how come i'm always "other" adam, he doesn't even have the same birthday!

Andy B. said...

You are other Adam because you have the distinction of having two forms of address, one for spoken and one for written. Spoken aloud, you are Mustoe. Written, you have to be Other Adam.

How's that work for you, Other Adam?

Adam said...

your jedi mind tricks won't work on me!

Patrick Moore said...

Dude, you are officially old. Now help us older clergy in our late 30's, by giving up all this younger clergy discussion, and start discussing our pension baby!

EyeRytStuf said...

A belated "Happy Birthday" to you, Andy!