What's in a Birthday?

Yesterday I joined the ranks of those who are 40 year old and, just like my grandma said, I don't feel any different than I did the day before.  My mom, my sister, and a few of my closest friends treated me to a surprise celebration on Saturday night at The Ram (which was also "born" 40 years ago).  And on Sunday, my mom treated my sister, my brother, and I to fine dining at Palisade in Seattle... I had king salmon, yum :)  And afterward I got a mint chocolate chip ice cream cone from Baskin Robbins :)

July 3rd.  What's in a birthday?  I've known for a while that my exact birthday happens to be the very day that The Doors lead singer Jim Morrison was found dead in Paris... "3 Julliet 1971" according to his death certificate. Just today I discovered that Julian Assange, the eccentric founder of Wikileaks, was born on the very same day as I.  The Find-A-Grave website lets you search for famous deceased people who were born or died on a particular day... looks like my birthday is more noteworthy for deaths.  The New York Times and Wikipedia have events listed for every day of the calendar year, too... Tom Cruise and I were born on the same day but he's 49 as of yesterday.  The most historically significant (and tragic) event that I remember happening on my birthday was the USS Vincennes shooting down a commercial plane from Iran.  July 3, 1863 was the end of the Battle of Gettysburg according to the The History Channel.

Without a doubt, the very coolest thing about my birthday is that it is the same as my great grandfather's.  Yesterday would have been his 109th birthday if he were still alive.  I think he was 72 in the picture below.