Birthdays are for Celebrating!

Woohoo! It’s my birthday and I am celebrating another year of life. I know a lot of women my age bum out at the enormous amount of candles on their cake. They may rush to the plastic surgeon at the first sign of wrinkles, but I’m different. I look at wrinkles as a reminder of the wonderful life I’ve had. It is one that has been full of all kinds of high and low points culminating one crazy Wild Ride. If my face reflects some of that ride, then bring it on life. I can take it! – Tilts chin up to imaginary ageing monster called life – Just don’t hit me too hard… Most of mine are smile lines anyway. Of course they couldn’t be symmetrical; life although precious and tenuous at times is rarely fair. Disclaimer – if I become as wrinkled as a Shar-pei or have to use Q-tips in order to clean in between the deep crevices, then I may consider doing something like using clothes pins to pull back the skin and hide the excess under a wig.

My birthday celebrations have varied throughout the years. When I was a little girl, they were simple and included cake, birthday hats, and bubbles. Most of them have been on the quiet side and celebrated with family, but a couple were over the top.

While in college, my friend had a surprise party for me. It almost gave me a heart attack since everyone dressed in costume and wore a mask. Talk about terrifying. I didn’t recognize anyone and the shock of it gave me my first white hair which I promptly plucked out!

Several years ago, my husband Danny sent me to the spa for the afternoon and told me to bring a dress for my birthday dinner. I chose a long gown. First he drove me home where my children had decorated the house in balloons, streamers, and posters. I thought it was the best birthday ever! Then he drove me to a Boulder microbrewery where my friends (most of them wearing jeans), hid in the back room for a really big surprise. I could feel my scalp tingle and a few more of those dang white hairs begin to sprout.

Another year, my book club took me out to lunch. I figured something was going on when my friend Karin who was driving me home, pulled over on the side of the road and said, “I hate to do this.” She began laughing and blindfolded me. Karin was still laughing when she guided me into the house, walked me upstairs to my bedroom and instructed me to stay there until I was allowed to come out. After about an hour, my daughter Courtney led me from the room and down the stairs where I found Danny  and about 100 people. He had hired a DJ, a caterer, and had installed a dance floor. I felt a few more white hairs burst out of my scalp with this surprise. It was an amazing party and everyone wore a hat. I think some pole dancing went down that night even though it was really a support beam and rectangular…

Why would anyone get depressed about living another year? How totally lame is that and the ones that complain are usually much younger than me. Will I tell you my age? No. It is irrelevant because I don’t feel or act my age. It only reflects the number of awesome birthdays I’ve had!

This year I am looking forward to going out to dinner with my family. With both children in college, that is no easy feat. So what if we have to eat at 5:30 to fit a birthday dinner into everyone’s schedule. I will not be wearing a gown, or a hat, nor will I be blindfolded, but will look forward to celebrating another year of life because that is what birthdays are all about. I colored my hair just in case…

Now if this would get Freshly Pressed that would really be the frosting my candle-laden cake.

It would be such a great gift to leave a comment about how you feel about celebrating your birthday and even better if you followed my blog!

First two photos by Susie Lindau -That’s my little brother in the top picture partying down with me on my 11th birthday. Hey! That was my Golden Birthday – 11 on the 11th!

The last photo is by Google. That cake is for someone who is really old and still loves to celebrate!