I LOVE BIRTHDAYS!  Truth be told, I love all holidays, but birthdays most of all.  Your birthday is truly the one day of the year that is all about you!  With my kids I even celebrated their half birthdays because I thought I needed another day to give thanks for them; on a much smaller scale with a half cake from Metro, but a fun celebration just the same!

I just celebrated my 57th birthday on Saturday.  The kids gave us a night away the weekend before along with our first restaurant dinner since March.  The feature pic is the view from our balcony as I sat reading my book…pure bliss!

Birthdays are also a time to reflect on life and where you are and how you’re doing.  Like most people this year did not look at all like I planned, at least the second half!  So what did I learn this year?

  1. Plans aren’t written in stone – we’ve all learned this one over the past year!  When my kids were young, I remember watching a talk show where a celebrity mom was quoted as saying that success is how well you deal with Plan B.  This year has really put that mantra to the test!
  2. Time is a gift – I feel like I have more time to experiment with recipes, listen to podcasts, organize and clean a little bit, and go for walks with my dad.  I have been trying to view this extra time as a gift, rather than working to fill my days like they were pre-covid.
  3. Write the card – I found the card that my mom gave me for my birthday last year.  Of course, we didn’t know that it would be the last birthday card she would ever give me, but it was a perfect last card!  Even though it makes me cry every time I look at it, it also fills my heart with her love.
  4. I actually miss hugs – I am not usually a “hugger”, except with family and really good friends, but I find myself meeting someone and wanting to give them a hug.  Look out when this is over; I can’t promise I won’t try to hug everyone!
  5. Puzzles aren’t that fun – I have always thought that puzzles looked really relaxing and I’ve done a few over the years, but they can be really frustrating!  Bridget and I did a puzzle and got to the end with 3 spaces and 2 pieces that didn’t fit into any of them.  Then we moved onto a Harry Potter puzzle and just gave up when we couldn’t get the outside pieces to work.  I’ve learned that I’m just not a puzzle person!
  6. Bowls are the best – we have eaten so many different kinds of bowls over the past couple of months – BBQ, Mediterranean, Mexican, etc – I love putting a meal in a bowl and experiencing all the flavours at once!
I am not a puzzle person!

Finally, I think this year has reinforced for me that we might have to be creative about it, but the true secret to happiness is connection.  I haven’t seen some of my kids since Christmas and I don’t have an upcoming visit to look forward to.  (We’re still hoping for a Polish wedding in October but remembering lesson #1 at the same time.)  

Technology is topping the list on my gratitude journal these days.  I’m not sure where I would be without FaceTime and Zoom and What’s App and HouseParty.  Technology is making it possible to stay connected; I’m still looking forward to those hugs, but 20 years ago this isolation would have been way more challenging!

So Happy Birthday to me! It has been a year of great change, some good and some I wish I could have skipped, but all in all, I feel blessed to celebrate another one with the people I love and great memories to carry forward into the next year.