To mark my 40th birthday, we recently threw a party at 902 Brewing Company. Since the milestone often feels like the “death of youth,” we leaned into a tongue-in-cheek “funeral” theme. Below is the transcript of my remarks on this day (cue the soundtrack here)
How many people get to attend their own funeral? I want to thank my Mom, who helped bring me here, and Lauren, who helped organize this party, as well as everyone who traveled from far and wide to be here.
While you are here, I thought I might share a bit of “wisdom” from my old age. For the kids in the room, always remember: Beware the Ides of March!
For the grown-ups: We need to throw more parties. When I was growing up, we had parties all the time: big parties for 30th birthdays, U.S. holidays, pool parties, 40th birthdays, random tiki parties, Tupperware parties, or really any damn reason at all. We would all bring food, drinks, things to throw on the grill, and endless snacks or hors d’oeuvres.
Parties were a way to bring us all together, mix it up, and connect us as a community. They were essential for helping us meet new people and building social bonds. In fact, I met my future wife at a house party, and I found a good share of my friends through similar gatherings, and more recently, I’ve even made new friends through kids’ birthday parties.
We have celebrated engagement parties, wedding parties, and baby showers – my theory is that Lauren and I need to throw a big party every five years – coincidentally these have all been at breweries so we were certainly overdue. If you have perfect attendance at our milestones, please raise your hands! [Lauren hands out awards.]
It has been said that we are in the midst of a national loneliness epidemic, and the only cure is to bring more people together. In a world which seeks to algorithmically divide us and makes us feel more isolated, we need to reconnect IRL and grow our social networks. I challenge you to introduce yourself to someone new today.
Today, I ask each of you to throw a party and “be the change” we seek. In these troubled times, it is more important than ever to come together.