I was born fifty-two years ago today. I like to celebrate my birthday by doing something I’ve never done before. Last year I had a luau. The year before, I rode Europe’s longest roller coaster. In 1901 Annie Edson Taylor celebrated her sixty-third birthday by becoming the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel. She was a Civil War widow and former dance instructor. The daredevil stunt was meant to fund her retirement years. She had herself packed in a mattress-padded oak barrel and rolled into the water above the falls. Though she survived the drop with only a small cut on her head, she warned others not to follow suit. “I’d sooner walk up to a cannon, knowing it was going to blow me to pieces than make another trip over the Fall,” she said. Today I think I’ll help with spring cleaning at the church. Niagara Falls can wait for another year.
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