My Birthday

My birthday

My birthday was pretty amazing this year, though I must be truthful and admit I was not looking forward to it. Turning 29 was a daunting task... Do you celebrate like it is 1999, the cusp of your thirties, the last year in your twenties? Do you celebrate the fact that you are still younger than all of your "mommy" friends, that you accomplished so much in your twenties? After all, I have gotten married, had 3 kids, bought two houses, moved to 4 different states, managed a great restaurant, made a dozen or more great friends.. Or do you spend your 29th miserable because you are getting " old" and that next year there will be people thinking it is funny to send you "over the hill" t shirts, and coffins and funerals will be the theme of your party?

I chose the former. My kids have kept me young. My best friend in the world had taken me out for an early evening out at "our" favorite Mexican restaurant. We drank a pitcher of margaritas and gobbled chimichangas and chips till we came close to exploding. My friend made me lunch and a cake that day, and when I came home there was a huge bouquet of flowers from my mommy waiting on the stoop, and a gift from a friend hanging on my door. I had phone calls, myspace messages and emails all day. My dad took me and the family out for a nice dinner (during which Lucas threw a lemon at strangers, smashed a drinking class on the floor, and Morgan tripped a waiter into the bathroom door) Overall, it was a successful birthday. And instead of depressing me, my birthday uplifted me. It taught me that the benefit to getting older is that your support system grows, your friends get kinder and closer, and your kids get mature enough to spend all day making you dozens of cards in their playroom :-)