January 30, 1947-2023 – David Dakan Allison

January 30, 1947 – 2023

My 76th Birthday

I woke up at 6:32 this morning wanting to feel what my mother felt; to hopefully have some sensations or remembrances of my birth 76 years ago today. I was told that I was born at 7:02 am, or maybe it was 7:20 – she couldn’t remember.

Between 6:32 and 7:02 I moaned out loud, felt uncomfortable in my body, prayed for a peaceful birth and fought to stay conscious. That half hour seemed to last forever and then it was 7:02. I had been birthed and it really wasn’t that dramatic. Not so painful. Was she sedated? Hmmm. 

I thought, having been born that morning in a Virginia Army hospital in 1947, of the great life ahead of me for the next hundred years . . . I drifted off . . . curiously fell back asleep. 

And then I heard a door opening and suddenly I woke up . . .  taking in a huge gasping breath of air. My lungs were wide open as I freely took in deep breaths. I checked the time. I was born at 7:20 am. I healthy baby with a caul over my face. 

Wide awake I got up and went outside. Another beautiful and perfect day greeted me. Strong, healthy, happy to be alive. 76 today. Yeah!

And the caul? Was it a curse or a blessing? Through a lifetime of being different and misunderstood, I often wondered if it were a curse. Growing up I saw my life, the human experience, differently than my family and the people I met. My mother took the caul as a sign that I would be her Catholic priest. To her, I was in God’s hands. Not hers. I felt abandoned, and yet she was right – I was a spiritual child, a spiritual teenager, a spiritual man, always in God’s hands; not in the hands of man. A blessing.

I was born a double Aquarian at the cusp of the Age of Aquarius. Even as a teenager I knew I was here to help open the door to the Golden Age. I waited, most often alone in my knowing, for 50 years to pass by for my time to arrive. The Age of Aquarius. The time of man to enter the Golden Age United. Happy Birthday today to me and everyone on earth.