Birthdays

I just had my birthday.  It was a wonderful day.  I try to schedule one of my quarterly vacations over my birthday, so I don't have to work around it.  That makes it an even better day.

I've never been one of those people that gets all depressed or wants to ignore their birthday.  I know I'm getting older and it doesn't bother me.

I have one of those late birthdays.  Back in the old days, when I was little, the deadline for starting kindergarten was October 15th.  Since my birthday was September 30th, I made if before the deadline, but I was usually younger than all of the other kids.  I started kindergarten at age 4.  So everyones birthday seemed to come long before mine did.  All my friends were turning 6 when I was turning 5 or 16 and driving when I just had turned 15 and so on down the line.  I always felt like I was catching up to them.

I married a man 6 years older than me, so that makes me feel young.  Good planning, if you ask me.

I always feel sorry for someone when I hear them say that their family didn't do anything for their birthday.  How can you forget or not celebrate a birthday?
I figure if you let someone forget your birthday, then you shouldn't complain.  My husband and daughters get a wishlist from me a few weeks in advance.  I kindly let them know where the best deals are on the items I like.  In return I expect to get wishlists from them before their birthdays.

My family always has and still does make a big thing of birthdays.  When we were kids we had parties with our friends over as well as  big family get togethers with cake and gifts.  Even now we have family parties with my Mom and siblings, niece and nephew, most of the time.  It's always something to look forward to.
A time to get together and chat.
 I loved planning my daughters birthdays.  We would have fun choosing the birthday theme and buying all of the party goods in that theme.   I would order their favorite cake and we'd usually have pizza or some other meal they loved.  They usually got a dinner at a favorite restaurant too, on a night of their choosing.

So birthdays have always been a special time for me.  As long as family and of course cake and gifts are involved, I don't mind turning another year older. (Especially if it's a pink champagne cake from McGavin's bakery. MMMmmm)