Taiwan 2024 - New Taipei Walks, the Old and the New / Birthdays in General

This and the next couple of posts were gleaned from our walks to and from the Awesome New Taipei Garden.  As can be seen above, as well as in myriad other posts in the blog, there are opportunities to juxtapose the old with the new.  I was introduced to this photographic concept in college, during a class taught by the venerated (by me) Ignacio Muñoz, when he highlighted the old against the new in a photo, in which the modern city of Segovia was captured through the arches of an ancient Roman aqueduct.

And to some, like me, it is the old that fascinates.  Perhaps ignited by nostalgia and thoughts of the "good ole' days".  Maybe lamentation that things are often not built "they way they used to be".  Could be a reactionary bristling at the inevitable rollover of progress.  Either way, this pic is a classic example of what came first as compared to what's happening now.

_______________

This is my birthday.  It's either Happy Birthday to me!!  or Who cares!?!  In my case the latter better reflected what I thought of my birthday.  In fact, one of the things that attracted me to Chenjean was her apparent indifference to the celebration of one's birthday.  In her generation's Taiwanese culture a person didn't celebrate a birthday until they reached the age of 60, which makes sense because by then you've hopefully accomplished something and, supposedly, finally gained some wisdom through sufficient life experience.

But then we had kids.  Well, you gotta do something here in America when a kid has a birthday.  And by extension you have to do something for your spouse and vice versa so the kids can see that you're special to one another.  So we did that for the duration of their childhoods.  But things changed for me a little once the youngest, Allison, was out of the house and in college.  They appeared to really care about my birthday, and gave very thoughtfully-chosen gifts along with very thoughtfully-written messages in a card.  It was through their diligence and caring that I began to enjoy a birthday for the first time, a switch in thinking that has lasted to this day...

Thanks kids!!  Love you both.