If anything, my friends and family know this about me: I am a firm believer in celebrating birthdays. For some, they do everything to avoid any recognition of the day. New Year's Day and birthdays, right? For some people, it's all about coulda/woulda/shoulda. But here's the thing, a birthday, in my opinion, isn't about dwelling on how old you are growing or what you haven't achieved. Rather, it's a reason to celebrate the fact that you, wondrous being, came into this world and are no doubt adding to its beauty. Shouldn't we all celebrate that?
I'm typically the first to frolic in the attention of my birthday, (ask my family members who are no doubt rolling their eyes right now, considering this has been a pattern of mine for a good 30 some years) arranging parties or dinners or trips to the spa. However, for some reason, this time around, I had little desire to do any of those things. In fact, over the weekend, I got a bit depressed thinking about it all. Oh no, I thought, am I turning into one of those Birthdays suck! kind of people?
A few friends of mine managed to shake me out of my funk by reminding me that I could do or not do whatever the hell I wanted so I figured I'd just go with the flow of the day. And who cannot help but smile when your roomie gets up an hour before her alarm normally goes off so that she can present you with a chocolate cake, candle burning, which she had surreptitiously baked while you were out the night before?
I then decided I didn't need to have a party or a big dinner or any kind of to-do. All I needed was to do a few things for myself that would make me smile today. Shouldn't that be the general rule for birthdays for all of us?
I mean, maybe you don't want to go to that German class after all. (Or maybe you are such an overachieving nerd, you go anyway.) But maybe you want to go straight for the chocolate croissant at the bakery during break time instead of your usual boring/not at all celebratory stockpile of fruit. And then maybe you think it's a pretty good idea to make the transition from your morning coffee to afternoon vino. Why the hell not? It's your birthday. And maybe you decide to finally stop at some of those cute shops you've been meaning to check out for the past two months. And maybe afterward, you stop at that Lebanese cafe you've been wanting to try and buy a delicious veggie sandwich which you thoroughly enjoy even though you make a complete mess of it as stroll down the busy streets of Kreuzberg, no particular place to be. Maybe you then realize what a lovely sunny day it is, perfect for a long walk, followed by an equally long nap. And finally, maybe you decide you should indeed get your ass out with a few friends after all, at least for some neighborhood pizza followed by that scrumptious chocolate cake and a bit of ice cream.
Not such a bad day after all. But then again, I guess I always knew it wouldn't be. Deep down, I've always been the celebrating kind.
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