“Take it from an old man
Time’s just sand slippin’ past
We wanna hold it in our hands
But no one ever sees what falls through the cracks
Take it from an old man
The days don’t stretch any longer
They’ve left tracks upon my skin
But I reckon made me stronger”
The lyrics above seem suitable, as I write this on the final day of March, version 2026.
As April dawns, I must encounter the horizon of another chapter. The September of my years are in full bloom. These birthdays, (for the record, mine is April 3rd, so please feel free to send gifts via mail), are becoming a pain in the neck, (literally).
Creaks, squeaks, cracking joints, grunts, ringing ears, and clicking knees aside, b-days are to be celebrated. It is your day to acknowledge your appreciation for being alive and to foster deeper bonds with friends and family. It marks the challenges, adventures and intriguing ambiguity that lie ahead.
So, let’s keep this a light and airy blog, by reviewing interesting facts …
More people celebrate their birthdays in August than in any other month (about 9% of all people). The two other months that rate high for birthdays are July and September.
Close to 2 billion birthday cards are sent each year in the U.S. alone, accounting for nearly 58 percent of all cards sent.
The world’s largest birthday cake was created in 1989 for the 100th birthday of the city of Fort Payne, Alabama. The cake weighed 128,238 pounds, 8 oz. and used 16,209 pounds of icing.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, a popular 21st birthday present was to have all your teeth removed and replaced with a set of dentures – the idea was it would prevent the expense of dental treatment later in life.
The Sultan of Brunei hosted the world’s most expensive birthday party to celebrate his 50th birthday on July 13, 1996. The cost was a whopping $27.2 million.
Anne Frank’s world famous diary was given to her as a present for her 13th birthday.
William Shakespeare died on his 52nd birthday: April 23, 1616.
A recent survey suggests that more people are born on October 5th in the United States than any other day. October 5 holds a not-so-surprising significance, as conception would have fallen on New Year’s Eve.
When your age and date of birth are the same, the day is special and is known as the Golden Birthday. So if you were born on the 22nd of the month, your golden birthday would be when you turn 22 years old.
The least common birth date in the U.S. is May 22nd, not counting leap years.
Cards that play a song when you open them use more computing power than was used to send man to the moon.
Since your last birthday 31,536,000 seconds have passed.
Your heart beats at a rate of around 72 to 80 beats per minute – since your last birthday it will have beat about 42,075,900 times.
The average garden snail moves at around 0.03 mph. If one set out on your last birthday, and walked non-stop it would have traveled 263 miles. If you walked this distance non-stop you would complete it in around three days.
Since your last birthday you will have had about 1,460 dreams.
The world population has grown by around 76,570,430 since your last birthday. In the time it takes you to read this another five babies will have been born.
The earth is zooming around the sun at around 66,780 miles per hour. Since your last birthday the earth has completed one journey around the sun traveling about 584,337,600 miles.
And, regarding turning older or your race reaching its autumnal turn, remember the final thought bestowed by our character’s lyrics from the song above –
“Win or lose
It’s one hell of a ride …”
Did You Know? If there are 23 people in a room there is a 50-50 chance that two of them will share a birthday. This is known as the birthday paradox, because it appears there are only 22 possible pairs and therefore a low chance of a match. In fact, because every guest could match with every other guest, there are 253 possible combinations (1+2+3+4 … up to 22), and the probability of finding a successful one is 50.048 per cent.