12+   In March 2020, I wrote a blog post marking my fifty-eighth birthday, questioning if it was one to remember or forget (thanks, COVID!)? I dipped into my diaries dating back to 1987 and shared a selection of birthday highlights, and I revealed how I set birthday challenges. So what sixty-three things could I do this year?

I started the challenges in 2017 on my fifty-fifth birthday. My son was playing water polo, and I swam laps during his training sessions. The laps increased over the years, and I realised I could push for fifty-five laps on my birthday. I swam fifty-six the following year, but in 2019, my shoulders felt sore from the first lap, and I limped to my birthday goal swimming breaststroke in sets of ten.

Reading, not Swimming

An MRI confirmed I'd torn the tendons in both shoulders, and coupled with the gloom of the COVID lockdown, I didn't do fifty-eight of anything in 2020. But I bounced back challenge-wise in 2021 and celebrated my fifty-ninth by reading fifty-nine chapters from several books (for variety) on my birthday:

• Germline by Julia Priestly (25 chapters)
• Olive, Mabel & Me by Andrew Cotter (25 chapters)
• The Elephant to Hollywood by Michael Caine (3 chapters)
• Remembering Bob edited by Sue Pieters-Hawke (3 chapters)
• Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo (3 chapters)

As I admitted in a 2021 post about my birthday challenge, I fell asleep reading chapter fifty-five in bed after midnight, and finished the final five chapters the next morning. While I didn't achieve my goal, I enjoyed reading the books. So I reprised the challenge for my sixtieth in 2020 … and failed.

However, instead of reading sixty chapters, I binged the audiobook version of The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, listening to all seventy-four chapters in thirty-six hours from the evening walk with my dog on my birthday, to our morning walk two days later.

Writing, not Reading

I wanted to do something different from forcing myself to read or listen to chapters for my birthday in 2023, so I wrote a 61-word story to mark my sixty-first:

I'm 61 today. Will you swim 61 laps? No, I've torn my shoulders. 61 pushups? My shoulders, remember! Jog? No, my knees will seize. Ride 61 kilometres? Are you joking!? Then, why not read 61 chapters? Because it makes reading a chore. So what will you do? I'll write a 61-word story and be grateful I'm here to write it.

Once again, as I admitted in a 2023 post, I didn't enter the words on my computer on my birthday. But I composed the story in my head on the day and, setting aside the usual edits, it's how I visualised it, especially the ending.

Floating, not Writing

After the swimming, reading and writing challenges, an introductory discount offer sign in a local massage and relaxation shop inspired me to spend sixty-two minutes in a float tank on my birthday in 2024.

To prepare for the experience, I dug out my travel journal from my backpacker trip to the Dead Sea with my wife in 1995, where I'd noted:

It was a weird yet comfortable sensation bobbing about in the sea, like a relaxation tank, I guess. We took photos of us reading a newspaper floating on our backs. Keeping the newspaper dry wasn't as tricky as swimming, apart from "back breaststroke".

I didn't need to worry about swimming in the float talk, and with the lid down, it was too dark to read a newspaper. Like the Dead Sea, floating in the tank felt weird, yet comfortable. Though, listening to my heart thump-thump-thumping in the dark wasn't as relaxing as I'd hoped. But at least it was still thumping!

Sixty-Three Beatles Songs

We had a family lunch at a local cafe-restaurant, The Walrus, for my birthday this year. I wore a much loved Beatles t-shirt, a Xmas gift from my son and his girlfriend, and on seeing it, my nephew commented I should have listened to I Am the Walrus on the walk to the cafe. 

I had treated myself to Birthday by the Beatles on the morning walk with my dog. And when I took him back out for another walk after lunch, I followed my nephew's advice, and listened to I Am the Walrus, one of my favourite songs from my favourite band. 

During lunch, I had mentioned to my family the birthday challenges I'd done over the years, and how I'd been unable to think of sixty-three things to do to mark my sixty-third. Suddenly I had it: I'd listen to sixty-three songs by The Beatles!

When I'm Sixty Four

I started my sixty-three Beatles songs challenge late-afternoon on my birthday. Bearing in mind the average length of a pop song is three minutes, I had three-and-a-quarter hours of music to fit into eight hours, with breaks for family time and dinner. Then there are the longer Beatles songs, like Hey Jude, at seven minutes and eleven seconds!

I posted on Facebook at 10:46PM:  

Thanks for all the well wishes for my birthday. I celebrated it with a family lunch. And as I was wearing my Beatles t-shirt, I set myself the birthday "challenge" of listening to 63 songs by my favourite band - I could have listened to another 63 or more!

I finished my challenge with The End from Abbey Road, featuring Ringo's wonderful drum solo and the dueling guitars of John, Paul, and George. It seemed fitting, as it was the last song recorded by all four Beatles together. 

But I added one more song, for next year, When I'm Sixty-Four.

© 2025 Robert Fairhead