Today — well, yesterday, as it’s now midnight — was my husband’s birthday. I once wrote a blog about how awesome he is, so I won’t repeat that — although he is still awesome, and he just gets more awesome by the year. 🙂 We’ll be having a family party in a few weeks, but today we had a nice dinner (take out, of course, because of COVID. We do this every year for the birthday person as per tradition). Then his parents surprised us by stopping by, which is always nice. All in all, it was a great day. And he was very happy.
But recently, I was shocked to learn that some people don’t celebrate birthdays. I understand the idea of an adult not having a party — maybe he or she feels like that’s more of a thing for when you’re younger — and when you’re older, it’s not really a big deal. But in my family? We make a big deal out of birthdays and holidays. For life. The family parties have it all — the dinner, the gifts, the cake (or desserts, in some cases), and ice cream. (Now some are gluten free to accommodate my diet, which is awesome). Is that childish? I dunno, to be honest. It’s always been this way. We’re firm believers in celebrating every year. I believe that you should celebrate each trip around the sun. Especially in these times, with COVID, because let’s face it — we’re never guaranteed anything. And another year of life is worth a celebration. Granted, it doesn’t need to be a full-fledged party with the cake and ice cream and gifts, but something to mark the time, to acknowledge that hey, I’m here, and hey, I made it…again. Wow. What a blessing.
My motto is (and has been for many years): “Live each day as if it were your last.” In fact, it was the headline of my singles ad that my husband found that sparked him to contact me. If he hadn’t contacted me, we wouldn’t be together today. And, oddly enough, we lived only five minutes away from each other. We could have passed by each other every day and not even known it. And yet it took the internet to bring us together…on one special day…with one special quote. Funny how life works.
So, even if you don’t feel like celebrating your birthday, consider doing something, even something small, to celebrate it. Thank your deity of choice for the blessing (or gift, if you choose to see it that way) of another year. Life is too short to not live…to not celebrate…to not acknowledge the passage of time.
And to my wonderful husband: Happy birthday, my love. Here’s to another year!