thirty-one
Those of you who know me well (or even just a little), know that I’m a huge fan of birthdays. And today is that day! Happy birthday to me!
A birthday is the best day because it’s a chance to be totally indulgent, spoiled and selfish, completely guilt-free. It’s the day when you get to surround yourself with loved ones and celebrate with good company. The day when you get to be sung to and wished well and open presents and cards.
Birthdays are also a milestone, like New Years, where it’s easy to take a snapshot of your life and compare it to the same day one year before. You can evaluate your progress against goals you had set, progress against past years, and make resolutions for future progress. A chance for reflection. A chance for gratitude.
Today, on my thirty-first birthday, I feel a tremendous amount of gratitude. I compare myself now to myself one year ago and I couldn’t be more pleased with what the past year has brought. Last year, even though I had the most amazing 30th birthday where my entire family flew all the way to Seattle to surprise me (scroll down for photos), I was also just at the beginning of a difficult but rewarding journey. In the past year, I have made some enormous life changes and now I’m so much happier. As I reflected last night on my birthday-eve, I realized that I also like myself so much better than I did one year ago. I am much more authentic to who I really am deep down, and who I want to be. And there aren’t many feelings in the world that are better than that. I think if I wasn’t me, I would really like being my friend! Actually, I take that back. I’m really glad that I’m me, and that I’m my own friend.
So to celebrate me, here is a summary of some birthday festivities:
– Saturday night: Navin & I went to see a play called “Peter and the Starcatcher” (the prequel to Peter Pan…I loved and laughed my way through the entire thing)
– This morning: serenaded by my parents singing the Beatles’ birthday song, per the Zur family tradition, followed by a yoga class where I did my first successful crow pose (I’m not usually a great balancer when my feet aren’t involved)
– This afternoon: spa lunch followed by spa treats
– Tonight: dinner with good friends at Purple (which happens to be both a wine bar/restaurant, and my favourite colour in the whole wide world)
Happy birthday to me! Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes so far. I hope everyone has a happy my birthday too.