Adult

The Maundy Monday Newsletter - This Week in History January 8 - 14.

I think I have mentioned it recently, but in case I didn’t, yesterday was my birthday. Anonymous had a full day planned for me. She made me crepes, and we went to church to celebrate the epiphany, where I learned I was no longer a young adult (by 13 years). Then we left at 2:00 for a 4:00 birthday party at our local bar because we had to run errands.

You know you are old when you have to run errands on your birthday, and it isn’t a big deal. Young adults don’t do errands on their birthdays. They sleep in and stay out late. I woke up at 4:45 a.m., walked five miles, and got home around 7:00. Try to keep up, young adults.

January 7 is called the Day of Perfection by many people. This is usually because I have told many people to call it such. Although it’s right after the holidays, it’s like another celebration due to its tremendous impact on our history. Don’t think so? Well, you wouldn’t be reading this if I hadn’t been born, so there you go.

I like having my birthday at the beginning of the year. We knock it out like a morning walk. I can now nap from birthdays for the rest of the year. I share my birthday with a few friends and a friend's son. I love sharing my birthday with others and feel everyone in the future needs to be born on January 7. Let’s resolve to make that happen, okay?

Of course, putting out personal information on a public platform makes me vulnerable for someone to steal my identity. I’ve already experienced this because it happened on my 29th birthday when I was a young adult. I was locked out of my bank account while I sat in a bar with friends, but I recovered from it quickly and stayed out until 8:00 p.m.

8:00 p.m. was late when I was a young adult.

I’m not sure how you celebrate your birthday, like if you market it somehow. Birthdays are opportunities for reflection and looking ahead, and having one in January makes the entire time from Thanksgiving through MLK Weekend one long look at your life. It can be exhausting but also makes you look at your life differently.

It’s interesting to realize that I have been alive for over 17,500 days, which means I’ve been on this planet for over 420,770 hours. I have slept approximately 16 years of my life. This means my sleep is old enough to drive and five years away from being a young adult at my church.

Speaking of driving, the number 1 song in America on January 7, 1976, was Convoy by CW McCall.

If you are not an older adult and have never heard of this song, here you go!

I guess it was also a movie? It looks wild.

Okay, let's highlight what else happened this week. Here's what I got:

1. President Lydon Johnson declared war on Poverty on January 8, 1964. Johnson declared a lot of war during his presidency and took on a lot of criticism while doing so. He lost Vietnam. I’m pretty sure he lost to Poverty, but he remains a top-ten president because he loved to expand the government.

2. The United States and the Vatican reestablished diplomatic ties on January 10, 1984. The Holy See and the United States broke off relations in 1867 when it was discovered that Catholics were involved in the conspiracy to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln. I’m not sure Rome was directly involved because why would the Pope care? Also, waiting 125 years to get back together seems silly. Did JFK not want to reestablish stuff? Was this a young adult discrimination thing?

3. The United States ratified the treaty with Great Britain on January 14, 1784. Negotiations began two years earlier in Paris following the Revolutionary War. King George The First Loser signed the treaty in September 1783, and it took forever to get it official.

My buddy’s son turned 15 yesterday, and it reminded me of that Madonna song that was number 1 on January 7, 1991 - Justify My Love.

I won’t attach the video – a lot is going on there that not even a 48-year-old can process. Also, Madonna was a young adult in 1991 (26), one year younger than her daughter is right now. I have no idea why I’m talking about Madonna other than to say you probably shouldn’t watch a Madonna video before you go to church. It seems to be self-explanatory and yet necessary to reiterate.

Okay!

We will be diving into the next edition of Okay History rankings on Friday, and this one will be a monumental undertaking, to say the least. I’m looking forward to it and hope you enjoy it. It will be a long ride but think of it like a Convoy of fun education - just trucking along every week till we reach the end of 2024.

I hope to Justify My Love for all of you with this new project. We will be discussing no one who would be considered a young adult, that’s for sure.

Okay, that’s all. Have a great week, and I’ll see you on Friday!

Okay,

Chris

Here’s Blue as a young adult.