Today is Lauren's birthday. I hope she will not mind my sharing that she is turning 25. I think it is a great age. I myself have been 25 for several months now and I certainly dig it so far.
Naturally, we were talking about birthdays yesterday and she made me aware of something somewhat odd about them that I had never considered before. When someone on your 25th birthday, for example, wishes you a happy birthday and says something like "I hope your 25th year is the best one yet!", this is not exactly an accurate thing to say. Just as you begin your 2nd year of life on the day you turn 1, you begin your 26th year on the day you turn 25.
I got to wondering who decided that we would identify our age in years based on the latest whole number that we had completed as opposed to the current year that we are in. I figured it had something to do with the language used for the common phrase of saying one's age as it would not be right to say "I am 26 years old" when one is only a month or two into his or her 26th year. Something like "I am in my 26th year" or "I am on 26" would work better for that. Sure enough, I looked it up and in South Korea you are 1 on the day you are born.
I suppose it should not come as much of a surprise that most of the world counts age by the lesser year rather than the greater one. Everyone wants to seem younger than they are.
Anyway, by the time Lauren sees this she will have landed in London with her friends for what I trust will be an amazing few days in one of her favorite cities in the world. I hope her 26th year is the best one yet!
