Birthday

My dear fellow bloggers,

Today is my twenty and third birthday! Alas, twenty-three years is far too short a time to live among such excellent and admirable people. I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.

Ok, so I have read the book and seen the movie probably a million times, but I still can't exactly make out what Bilbo means when he says that last sentence. But, yes today is my birfday. And for my birfday, I have given you all a present in exposing my geeky/nerdy nature in quoting from the Lord of the Rings. (But in reality I liked it way before there was all the hype from the movies--I can remember finding an old worn copy of the Fellowship in my grandma's basement when I was about 12. It was love at first read. AND, is it super weird that one of the things that attracted me to Jeff when we first met in high school was that he liked Lord of the Rings too? In fact, we went to the midnight showing of The Two Towers together, and then went to another showing of it the next morning. Pretty crazy, huh?)

Anyway the reason that I quote from Lord of the Rings on this very special day is because I think Tolkien had the right idea about birthdays. He kind of reversed what we normally do on birthdays, but in the end I think it works out better for everyone. Here, I'll just let him tell you:

(I imagine that Tolkien has a low, but soft, old guy voice.)

"Bilbo met the guests [of his party] at the new white gate, in person. He gave away presents to all and sundry, the latter were those who went out again by a back way and came in again by the gate. Hobbits give presents away to other people on their own birthdays. Not very expensive ones as a rule, and not so lavishly as on this occasion [Bilbo's birthday party], but it was not a bad system. Actually in Hobbiton and Bywater, everyday in the year was somebody's birthday, so that every hobbit in those parts had a fair chance of at least one present, at least once a week. But they never got tired of them."

I wish that I could give everyone presents on my birthday. Not because I am generous or anything, but in fact because I like presents and that means that I would get more throughout the year! :)

But, since I have about 10 dollars to my name right now, maybe I will give you all a present in the form of sharing an experience I just had. Today I had a lady thank me sincerely for giving her an extension number yesterday. She called back today to thank me and said that I was the only one that has helped her, and told me how grateful she was. She then wanted to speak to my supervisor so that she could recommend that I get a raise.

Isn't it odd that a complete stranger can make you feel so good about yourself, even when in reality you didn't do anything to help them? It is so neat that we, as humans, have the ability to do service for others and make those around us feel happy. I really hope that I am that kind of stranger to other people.