In childhood, we yearn to be grown-ups. In old age, we yearn to be kids. It just seems that all would be wonderful if we didn't have to celebrate our birthdays in chronological order.

The quote highlights a common paradox of aging: desire is often oriented toward what we do not have. Children long for the autonomy and status of adulthood; older adults long for the ease, possibility, and physical resilience associated with youth. By joking that life would be “wonderful” if birthdays didn’t arrive “in chronological order,” Brault underscores the tension between subjective identity (how old we feel) and objective time (how old we are). The humor softens a serious point: much dissatisfaction comes from comparing the present self to an imagined better stage of life, rather than inhabiting the one we are in.