By Mark Harvey

Tomorrow is my birthday (thank you, thank you very much), and I must confess I hadn’t anticipated that turning 24 would be such a non-event.

Well, OK, it was worth a try. But it really is my birthday — and it really is a non-event.

It used to be an event — or at least a socially acceptable excuse for a party. All manner of happy things would happen, and I would be on the receiving end of all of the recognition (and loot!) that a Leo so richly and inherently deserves. It was a milestone! An achievement! I wasn’t dead!

You do have to agree there’s something to be said for not being dead, and I’m happy to report that I’m still not.

With puberty (and, to a large extent, parties) now a blur in the rearview, it’s kind of interesting that we measure our presence on the planet with numbers: “I showed up here 24 years ago!” — or whatever number is applicable or plausible.

I suppose that’s handy in a way, because as soon as we attach a number, we can attach a label: You’re a 20-something or a Boomer or a Millennial or middle-aged or a teenager or a senior or whatever. And with that information, we immediately know all kinds of things about you, right? We’ve learned all of the popular, demographic “truths” that accompany all of those various levels and labels, and can safely leap to conclusions about who you are, what you think, what you value, what you care about, what you don’t care about, what you’re likely to do, what you’re not likely to do, and what level of technology you’re comfortable with.

That is seriously convenient — and, apparently, seriously helpful to people who are trying to sell something to your particular demographic. How … enlightening.

How … annoying!

What if we didn’t “count”? I mean, what if we didn’t tally the days, nights, weeks, months and years since we showed up on Earth? What if the anniversary of that spectacular, historically relevant day were just another day? What if nobody knew how long we’d been here? What if I didn’t know how long I’d been here, because I wasn’t counting?

You know what tomorrow would be? Right: August 13.

And you know who I would be? Right: Mark. Just Mark.

And everyone else would be forced to discover what I do, think, feel, value and buy, because there wouldn’t be 928 studies conclusively and confidently articulating who I am — which, interestingly, is exactly what I have to do.

Well, sure — every darned day, I have to figure out and decide who I want to be and what I choose to believe and what I choose to value and what I choose to do with this new opportunity that we call “today.” And the fact is that it’s no different on August 13 than it is on February 14 or October 3t: I still have to figure it out.

I still have to … decide.

Or, I suppose, I could simply subscribe to the norms, parameters and characteristics associated with my particular demographic and start acting the way I’m expected to act — and a lot of that angst would probably go away, right? I mean, the script has already been written, so why not just “act right” and confirm the statistics?

Well, I don’t suppose that there’s anything wrong with that, except for one little thing: What if they’re wrong? (You know, the ever-present “they” who decipher mega-trends and spell out sociological realities and, by default, design the “boxes” we’re supposed to live in.)

What if they’re wrong?

What if, tomorrow, that’s not the way I behave, or think, or feel, or conduct my business, or set my goals? Or treat people, or insist upon being treated? What if that’s not the label that fits me tomorrow?

Then, I suppose, “they” would have to keep up with me, instead of me having to keep up with “them,” and the only expectation-laden label that could be applied would be “Mark.”

Just Mark.

Then, I think, tomorrow would be a truly magnificent day. Which, of course, it will — because tomorrow is my birthday!

Mark Harvey is the director of information and assistance for the Olympic Area Agency on Aging. He can be reached by email at harvemb@dshs.wa.gov; by phone at 360-532-0520 in Aberdeen, 360-942-2177 in Raymond, or 360-642-3634; or through Facebook at Olympic Area Agency on Aging-Information &Assistance.