Birthday Wisdom When You're Getting A Little Long In The Tooth

Sometimes wisdom can come from the most unlikely of places.  I was making a new appointment with my dentist today, when he told me it would be just after my next birthday.

"Oh, I'll be another year older." I said.

To which he replied, "It's better than the alternative!" 

It's funny but I've never thought of it like that before.  When I was younger I was excited about each new birthday coming up, I had my whole life ahead of me!  But these days, I've been seeing every approaching birthday as just another year older.  I haven't been geting as excited about my age each year as I did in my teens and my twenties.  But now that I've heard this unexpected piece of wisdom from my dentist, I'm a little more excited to be alive!

The only alternative to living (and aging), is dying.  And I don't want to do that.  So now I'm going to think of my birthday as a time to celebrate another year of crazy things I get the chance to do - because I'm lucky enough to be alive to do them!

Photo Credit:  Image by John Kay - Flickr Creative Commons License

Try Something New for Woods & Trees

My blog is all about trying something new and doing something for the first time.  Why not be more adventurous for a good cause?  If you only have 5 minutes, why not write to your local MP and make a difference for Woods and Trees?  It's easy as the Woodland Trust will do all the research for you and find out who your local MP is, all you have to do is fill in a quick form on their page, and they will send it for you.  

A Brand New Group

The UK Government are trying something new too - they're setting up a brand new All-Party Parliamentary Group to stand up for ancient woodland and veteran trees.  They'll be meeting up throughout the year to raise awareness of the threats to ancient woodland and their flora and fauna (which you can learn more about - and see their cute pictures - in my Flora & Fauna blog post).  The first ever meeting of this group will be on 20th October 2015, when they will elect officers, receive a presentation expert woodland ecologists, discuss the best ways to better value and protect our natural habitat, and speak up for us in Parliament.  

The more MP's that attend, the greater the chance this new parliamentary group will be a success, raising issues in parliament for years to come.  We can help by sending a message online to our local MP's asking them to attend, let them know we care about our woods and trees and want to preserve them, and the nature that inhabits them, for years to come.  

And with The Woodland Trust doing the hard work for us, all we have to do is fill in a short message form on their website, for them to look up our local MP and send the message for us.  Thank you, Woodland Trust.

Photo Credit:  Jeffrey James Pacres, Flickr.com Creative Commons license.