It was my birthday recently. As I get older, I enjoy it less and less, not only because the number is a lot higher than I want it to be, but because I have a bit of a jinx with my birthday.
For some reason, bad things happen around my birthday. Maybe because its spring time and things are changing. I don’t know, I’m just glad to get to mid-March as quickly as possible. Beware the Ides of March? That just means March 16 is Celebration Day.
If I’m going to have trouble at work, it’s at the beginning of March.
A couple of years ago my Dad fell ill just after my birthday, which was the beginning of a long good-bye. I used to look forward to it, the weather improving, time to think about getting the motorcycle back on the road. I think I’m going to keep it parked a bit longer.
March 11, 2020 was the day I realized how serious the pandemic was. That was the day the NBA put their season on hold and started canceling games. The NHL followed the next day. There hadn’t been many cases at that point and I think people felt it was an overreaction. Time has proven that wrong.
So, I guess you could say COVID-19 is my fault. It’s part of my birthday curse. And I’m sorry.
I’m hoping this year is a bit different and that the curse is broken. After all, what could be worse? Okay, I hope I haven’t spoken too soon and we end up with the markets collapsing. It’s possible, but with the vaccines coming online faster, we may be out of this by summer. Good thing the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was approved the day ‘before’ my birthday.
I share the day with some great people. Rob Reiner is an amazing filmmaker, I’m a huge Spinal Tap fan. David Gilmour from Pink Floyd. And Michelangelo, but he’s a lot older than me. Great company, but it’s not helping.
So I’ve narrowed COVID-19 down to two – me and Justin Trudeau. Last January, he showed up after the holidays with a beard. Much was made of it in the press, but he’s had it the whole time we’ve had COVID-19. I wonder if it’s a reverse hockey thing, the longer he has it, the longer we are dealing with it. Maybe if he shaves it off, the curse will be broken.
Maybe it wasn’t my fault after all. I’d sure like to enjoy my birthday again.
Brad Sherwin, MBA is a long-time resident of South Delta, and has over 30 years’ experience in marketing, public relations and business strategy. He teaches Marketing at Douglas College, coaches hockey goalies and is Past President of Deltassist.
