Peter's Place

Yesterday, October 21st, I celebrated my 29th birthday, again. It's a birthday I've celebrated before, and one that I will continue to celebrate, because I'm not done. I've been thinking a lot this year about why I celebrate my 29th birthday, instead of my actual age. Most people -- most of my friends, included -- probably think it's because I'm vain. As a gay man, I can't age into my 30s. But that's only a part -- a very small part -- of it. The year of my actual 29th birthday was the year of my automobile accident -- the one and only. The one that changed my life. The one that put me into a living coma, out of which I'm continuing to emerge. That year, I survived a fatal automobile accident in Montauk. I shouldn't have survived and were it not for a good samaritan who pulled over when he saw my car go off the road, I wouldn't have survived. I spent most of that year in hospital (including my birthday), both for my physical and men...