Life is funny. You go through life planning and working and meeting and hoping, and then one day you wake up and you come to find a metallic shade of yourself that didn’t exist before. How did you get that way? What brought you there? How did you make it that far? Well, there’s the constant cleansing and polishing: the thinking, the waiting, the dreaming, the doing. And somewhere among all that, there’s plenty of time to wonder. You wonder if you’ve made the right choices — if you’re going to make more bad ones. You wonder how it’s going to end. You wonder if anyone will notice. You wonder what it all means.

And the answer to all of these is, of course, yes. And no. And everything in between. You make the best decisions you can at the time you have to make them, and in doing your best to keep that in perspective, you hope you haven’t fucked up too bad.

No one’s trying to kill you — well, that you know of. You pay your taxes. You’re not a meth addict. No prison tats. You’ve got a car, a home and a cat. You’ve got some great people around you who, for reasons only gawd knows, have put up with your bullshit more often than they’ve told you to go jump in a lake. Your life may be in a period of transition, but all things considered, you’re not doing too bad.

Just a little more polish and you’ll be looking mighty sharp. Yeah, that’s it. Turning silver isn’t that easy, you know. The smudges don’t go away on their own. I’m sure you will make more mistakes, but you’ll also have more successes. You’re up to the challenge. It won’t be perfect, but really, what is? After all, there’s no manual.

Some more polish and a little elbow grease, and people will say, “Damn, look at that one! It’s really beaming!” And hopefully, when they open the books, you’ll have won more than you lost. Really, that’s all you can expect. The rest is garnish, complimentary to your shiny metal finish.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr. was born on this day in 1914 and died on 17 August, 1988 — his 74th birthday; and though you’re nowhere near there yet, there’s something about that sort of cyclical journey that is just fascinating. He ended up being fairly shiny in his own right. Here’s hoping you don’t let your brothers in time, or anyone else, down during your own journey. But don’t worry — I’ll keep some extra polish on hand.

Happy birthday to you, Mr. Lanphear. Shine on.