Why do we celebrate our birthday, while knowing that it means we are drawing closer to death?

How does getting older make us closer to death? I know families that have lost young children through disease or accident. (SIDS and drowning.)

No, it means we are celebrating our lives while we still live.

This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

And also, we're kind of perverse.

Whistling past the graveyard? Hmmm....

because we're not pessimistic doomsdayers.

After you die you will not exist. Before you were born you did not exist. So I guess it is a glass half-full half-empty thing.

Every year, I get further away from the time I didn't exist.

On my birthday I celebrate the fact that I have managed not to die yet.

And you can celebrate your drawing closer to death on any day, really. What distinguishes your birthday is that 365 days have passed since you last drank so much you fell face first into the scorer's table at the bowling alley and chipped your tooth, and later passed out in bed next to your girlfriend with your clothes still on.

I actually celebrate my birth, over and over again, while my mother relives it over and over again......

That too.

any excuse for a good time - and then there's presents!