27

Me: "I'm going to write a quick blog about my birthday tonight."

Her: "What are you going to write about? You didn't even do anything for your birthday."

If you would have asked 8-year old Matt what life would be like at 27, he would have said the following:

• in his 7th year playing for the Cleveland Indians
• have 7 World Series rings and 7 walk-off home runs to win them all
• have 100 acres of forest to romp around in
• own a boat
• drink a milk shake every day. 
• have an awesome wife 

Unfortunately, I'd tell young Matt that only one thing from the list is true today - and I'm not sure a two-person inflatable raft counts as a boat. 

Just playin'! My wife is my best friend and teaches me what selfless love looks like every day. She even approves of me using lame jokes on a public website at her expense. So we've got two things from that list. Not bad.

In 27 years so far, there haven't been any World Series appearances for me. And the closest brush with 100 acres of woods has been in a Winnie the Pooh book with the Kicker before bed. Maybe 8-year old me would be let down with himself 19 years ahead. 

But I would say a couple other things to him. Reading that book before bed will be one of the best parts of your day. And it may not be the World Series, but you'll be buying your son his first glove this winter. 

27 didn't meet all of the 8-year old expectations; it likely exceeded them. Looking forward to not meeting my 27-year old expectations of older versions of myself as well. 

It's a Nokona BC-1200C designed for infielders and pitchers. At a cool $260 it can be the Kickers first glove. Any contributions toward this mortgage glove payment can be forwarded to me.