Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Oh How the Years Go By

I just had (not celebrated) my 35th birthday. I joke with my wife that my hair is falling out from old age. This "deforestation" comes actually from Soriatane though I have fears that the reforestation process may not arrive soon enough to counter the aging process. I count the years of my life is a number of ways:

Years since birth: 35
Years with psoriasis: 28
Years as a SF Giants fan: 26
Years as a Christian: 21
Years as an adult: 17
Years as a SJ Sharks fan: 14
Years married: 12
Years as a father: 11
Years in post-high school studies: 9
Years as a minister: 7
Years working as an environmental scientist: 2
Years with hair loss: 0.5

What is striking is, next to birth, is psoriasis. I have lived with psoriasis longer than most of the benchmarks of my life. I can't remember life without psoriasis. During these 28 years I have had brief remissions a few times:

9 years old: When we had a pool in the backyard
19: When I took methotrexate for the first time
22: When I went to China for six weeks
33: When I took cyclosporine for the first time.

Funny way to look at the journey. But, yeah, oh how the years go by.