Birthdays have always been special days to me. Has not mattered if it was mine or someone else’s. My grandma made it so. With the first ring of the phone on a ‘birthday day’, we kids would call out ‘It’s for you!’ The birthday girl or boy was sent racing to the phone…..was it always exciting or, as teenagers, did it get old for some?
Phone calls still come, always from sons and siblings and now, tons of Facebook messages. Every one makes me smile. It is the excitement of the day. Almost as exciting as waking up on Christmas morning when I was six or seven! The tiny spark inside me has not been snuffed out by the status quo of adulthood. It still sparkles and shines. A big grin spreads when the phone rings, when messages show up with the energy of best wishes. Each birthday brings a vision of a time past zipping through the years. From the distance of party lines and telephone operators to dial phones, cell phones and now computer, smart phones and electronic messaging.
But, birthdays for me are bigger than presents. There was a time, many years ago, when I had just about forgotten that life is worth living, that dreams still exist and that I had the ability to make even the hardest of choices. Thankfully, that time is long past. Low days are just that ~ low, but not slippery and scary. So my birthday is really all about me, awareness of my life and gratitude to everyone who has shared pieces of my journey with me.
“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars,
and see yourself running with them.”
~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
Author's note: Edited January 13, 2024
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