The Better Decade

I've always loved April and Easter and the middle of spring. No small reason is that April is my birthday month, and I happen to think it's the perfect month to have a birthday. After more than three decades of such birthdays, I think I'm more than qualified to make that statement.

Ever since college, as my birthday draws near, I have this momentary pause where my stomach squeezes and I wonder if I'm going to panic about growing older. One more year closer to whatever end is in store. One more year to get more wrinkles and rounder in the middle, for my body to ache in new inventive ways. But that moment passes like a siren on a highway, and it's gone.

And I'm left feeling great. No doubt I am a little older, and I can't drink like I used-to-could. But things are so much better than my 20s! I am a better writer, better wife (oh goodness, marriage before 27 should be banned), better friend (by not trying to be friends with everyone). I am in better health, have more money (finally), and have more fun (by learning to say no).

These days, when I meet people right out of college, I do not envy their youth. I shake my head and pat their shoulders and tell them, don't worry, it takes at least another decade before you figure it out.

And of course champagne only gets better by the decade (it is wine, after all). One such champagne that spanned three decades and tasted all the better for it was the Billecart-Salmon Cuveé Elisabeth Salmon Brut Rosé 1999 ($180). It had far more carbonation than should have been possible after so many years, as if the grapes were excited to finally greet the world again in their new, intoxicating form. It smelled like a bouquet of roses and tasted absolutely delicious. Ah, yes, this is life.

Score: She gives it a 5, he gives it a 4.

Recommended: Yes, yes, oh yes!