Today I turned 40.

In 1975, I came into the world around 1:23 AM. That’s a guesstimate. No one was looking at the clock the moment I was born. The family doctor was smoking. My parents had already gone through the birth of one son- two years later they were doing it again in the middle of the night. There was concern that I wasn’t crying, so the doc firmly slapped my buttocks with his index and middle finger until my lungs proved their worth and I experienced my first, post-womb WTF moment.

If you’re reading this, then you are probably already aware of what my birth brought to the table, medically speaking, for my family. But just in case, here’s the run-down: born with hemophilia, and infected with hepatitis B (early 80s), HIV (mid 80s) and hepatitis C (1994) via blood product treatments. It was the HIV diagnosis at age 11 that left my family with the very real concern that I wouldn’t live to see the 1990s.

Through a combination of luck, love and timing, I made it. At 40, it’s quite possible that I’m only halfway done with this journey. I’m content with each day, month and year I’ve had. Each decade has brought it’s own unique learning experiences. I continue to grow and I look forward to what the next decade has in store. I can say, with confidence, that I’ve never entered a decade in better health than I do now: physically, emotionally, spiritually.

Of course, like anyone else, I have no idea how much time I have left. But I do know I have enjoyed a lot more time than was previously thought. And that’s the greatest gift of all.

Positively Yours,
Shawn

PS... I’ll be blogging more about this, but the HIV online comedy series, Merce, debuted today... on my birthday!! Check it out, it’s a Summer smash! #Merce