Birthday Happiness

So, today is my birthday.  I really used to love my birthday.  I spent a lot of them as a child and youth at the beach in North Carolina or at church summer camp and it was always exciting.  One of my favorite memories was the year they decorated my top bunk and we had a bat in the cabin and I was just sure I was going to wake up one morning with a bat tangled in the streamers right over my head.  My mother always made my favorite dinner which was either roast beef with mashed potatoes or stir fry.  Since it was right before school started I usually got lot of school clothes for birthday gifts.  Other memorable gifts include when I was a missionary in Kiev, Ukraine and my companion got me a new pillow for my bed to replace the huge and uncomfortable one I was using and then there was the year my husband took me to see Mary Poppins at the Kennedy Center.

I love surprises and the anticipation of what was in store for me on my birthday always gave me a giddy excitement that lasted until just recently.  It wasn't that I expected expensive presents or grand gestures but anything that I hadn't planned myself was enough to excite me.  However, today I've felt a bit melancholy.  I knew today was going to be just like any other day.  My husband was at work, I have three children who still need to eat and be taken care of, I had school supplies to buy and dishes to do and laundry to fold.  I have enjoyed calls from friends and family but other than that, nothing out of the ordinary has happened.  We'll have a nice dinner tonight when my husband is home and I look forward to receiving the sweet gifts and cards my kids have made for me.   I was starting to be sad that my birthday excitement is gone.  I no longer anticipate surprises or wonder what the day will hold because I already know for the most part.   That made me sad and put me in a bit of a poor mood today.

Then it hit me that I was being an idiot.  What is the point of a birthday?  It is to celebrate life and while my life is not exciting to some, taking care of my home and family is exactly the life I wanted and I'm so grateful for it.  I'm grateful to be alive, to be healthy enough to take care of my children and be pregnant with another, I'm grateful to have people who love me and wonderful parents who raised me in a home filled with love and happiness.  I'm blessed to have a comfortable home, live in a safe neighborhood, to have a hard-working and employed husband, to be able to enjoy delicious food and enjoy another sunny and beautiful day on this good earth.

So, happy birthday to me!  It has been a good 34 years and I look forward to many more birthdays of living my simple and somewhat ordinary but wonderful life.