Today’s my birthday! I’ve successfully balanced on the ol’ blue orb for another 365.

It’s been a pretty good run over these past few years as far as birthday locales go: onstage in an arena in Germany, exploring Singaporean hawkers centers, Pittsburgh (the clear favorite), and my new home - Nashville TN. This year, I’m taking an impromptu road trip down the I-65 to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute - I’ve been meaning to go for a while now and it’s by all accounts a deeply moving experience. As I always do, I’ve got my one-man tent with me, and I imagine some hiking and camping near Chattanooga’s also in the cards.

I often quote comedian John Mulaney when talking about aging: I don’t look older, I just look worse. The picture below serves as proof positive, and this lingering cold’s creating just enough brain fog as to make epiphanies elusive (perhaps mercifully so). But as I’m writing this I’m thinking that if there is a fountain of youth, it’s in our minds - our creativity, curiosity, and the manifestation of both as love for the beautiful people in our lives. Provided we tap into these, life will always remain intoxicatingly prismatic.

As I march triumphantly towards the inevitable, I’ve never been more open to giving and receiving love. For that, I’m immeasurably grateful.