UNITED STATES—I recently celebrated my birthday and while I don’t think my age matters, let’s just say I’m in my 30s. I’ve come to the assessment that as I get older, I still like to celebrate my birthday, it’s just the dynamics of celebrating my birthday has slightly changed, well; honestly they have changed quite a bit to be honest.

For starters, the level of excitement for your birthday when one is younger is more frenetic, more contagious I think in most cases. That is not to say as we age people are not excited for their birthday, I just think when you’re younger there are more things you can get away with when celebrating your birthday than when you’re older. Ok, I’ll just say it; you can be reckless and slightly immature when you’re younger and people won’t judge you as harshly as if you were let’s say in your 40s or 50s and behaving badly.

I mean in my 20s I celebrated my birthday every single year, and it was always an event to say the least, rather it was hitting up the nightlife, having drinks on the town or indulging in things that one should not do, it was a time worth checking off one’s bucket list. I mean I’ve had countless birthdays where I drank, but only ONE where I was so drunk I can’t remember half the night. Was it my proudest moment? No. Did I have fun, I assume. Have I heard the last of it, not a chance, not a chance people!

Now that I am in my 30s, I still celebrate, but it’s a bit tamer. A few drinks are always nice, but not to the point where I can’t remember what I did the night before. I no longer feel the need to be the life of the party. I have a good time, but it’s the orbit of people around me that matters most now than in the past. Nowadays, celebrating my birthday bowling, having a nice dinner or outing is feasible and enough for me. The antics of the 20s are no more; however, those milestones will still be celebrated in big style. I mean you only turn 40, 50, 60 etc. once. Why not live it up a little?

I still find it shocking that I still get gifts sometimes from loved ones on my birthday. I was always a big proponent that as you age, the number of gifts that you get slowly decreases. However, I guess it’s a sign of all the things that I do for others that while not always voiced, are not forgotten. I mean I was slightly surprised by the amount of cash that was handed to me during my recent birthday celebration. So much to the point, I was able to pay off a few bills and still have a little bit over to splurge on myself.

The one thing that I’m realizing as I get older is I wish I could sometimes rewind time to really enjoy the importance of being a child. There is a reason your parents tell you to savor the joys of being a child because when you become an adult everything changes. And I mean everything, life is no longer as easy as it used to be, however, getting older has its perks as well.