Tuesday was my 22nd birthday. Yes, I blasted Taylor
Swift every chance I could that day, but it didn't feel much like a birthday.
I'm guessing that the way the rest of my birthdays are going to feel. Don’t get
me wrong, my day was absolutely wonderful. I felt dearly loved by everyone
around me, but it was just another day. I woke up and taught a lesson, took a
test and did homework. I did go out to dinner with friends to celebrate though.
As I was sitting at dinner, I thought, “this really
is the good life.” I was surrounded by 9 of my closest friends who were
laughing and eating pizza. And I thought, “this really is what life is about.”
It’s wasn’t about the gifts I got, or how many people wrote on my wall, it was
the hour my friends took out of their busy schedules to celebrate me. It’s the
little things.
As a child, I grew up with elaborate birthday
parties. My mom went above and beyond putting on these parties for both my
sisters and me. They were the best. I can still remember milking a fake cow,
painting on my easel with my beret or running in and out of the cardboard
castle my dad made for my 5th princess party. But over the years, birthdays
just become another day.
And that’s not to downplay the significance of
birthday…because I mean, I wouldn’t be here without one. But it’s taking a step
back and realizing how wonderful the life I have is. Never in a million years
would I have dreamed about where this ride as taken me.
On Tuesday, I looked at a picture of me from my 16th
birthday. And I wish that I could just go back in time and grab her and tell
her “the ride ahead of you is a bumpy one. It is going to be filled with some
of the worst times, but also some of the best. Don’t give up. The good times
outweigh the bad times 100 times over.”
Thank you all for the sweet messages on Tuesday.
Words of affirmation is one of my love languages and so little notes mean the
world to me.
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