“Big Birthdays”

Warning: personal disclosure ahead. Some years ago, I had a “big number” birthday. To mark it, I went skinny dipping in the cold February waters of Plum Island Massachusetts. There are neither nude nor evidence pictures here; it’s not that kind of blog.  The “b’day suit” dip happened to be on a first date with someone, no names mentioned. I told her I wanted to do this on my birthday, and she was bemused. It was not our last date, but the fact that she couldn’t swim doomed the relationship.

A few days ago, I had another “big number” birthday, so it was back to the water. No skinny dipping this time, skimming over the water for a long night sail was sufficient. And I kept the birthday a secret from all til now. Notice below there’s icing but no cake, and the ONE red marker light is a hint to my age. If you add the two digits of my new age added together and then take the two digits of their sum added together, you’d get ONE. The green marker in the distance… that’s the next “big b’day.” This reminds me I should reread Jan de Hartog‘s Outermost Buoy, a novel on aging.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.