Life is a basket filled with eggs...

On multiple occasions, I have wished a 60th or 72nd birthday to friends by sending them this picture of a basked filled with eggs and the caption: “I counted twice, there are (5 or 6) dozen. Just be careful, the basket is rather fragile”...

The more I think about it, and the more I realize the truism of this picture and the accompanying caption.

At the beginning, there's straw at the bottom of the basket to make sure the few eggs that are there won't bump into each others.

Later on, as eggs are progressively added to the basket, each one of them finds a snug spot as it interlocks with its neighbors from every sides.

More years later, as the number of eggs gets larger, the basket becomes heavier, the bottom eggs must withstand the sheer weight of a larger number of eggs piled up on top of them, the whole content becomes very fragile and must be handled with the utmost care.

That's when the comparison between too many eggs and too many years begins to sink in...