Another Day, Another Year Older.

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Yesterday was my birthday, I turned the big 3-2, and I spent the day doing exactly what I do every other day of the year; partying with my Little Man.*

I have to give the disclaimer here that I have never been one for celebrating birthdays. To be honest, I just don't get what the big deal is. Everyone has one, and really, each year I am just happy that I get to have another, which is the best gift you can get as far as I'm concerned. Of course, that doesn't mean I don't love getting cards, texts, calls, and all those awesome Facebook messages that come from everyone you've ever known in your entire life (seriously, what did we do before Facebook???) I have to take this time to say thank you to all of you who took the time to think of me yesterday!

Each year I pretty much celebrate getting older the same. Something simple at home, where I pick out what I've been lusting after (this time it was a day at the spa), which is always followed up in the week by an amazing dinner with my two best girlies to celebrate the big day (which has now become the highlight of my week!) Simple, perfect, low key, and, for me, just what a birthday should be.

Once you get over the whole getting older part, I think of birthdays as the perfect time to reflect on where you've been, and where you are going. I can still remember my 22nd birthday (one that for some reason felt so monumental to me). At the time was at the beginning of what would  become my "grown up" life. Up until then I had done nothing but live at home, spend time with my family, go to college, and work. I remember waking up that day, thinking that my life was about to change, and of course, being the control freak that I was/am, I had a solid plan. While I thought I had everything figured out (as most 22 year olds do) I  actually had no idea what would truly lie ahead. I have learned over the years that this truly is the best part of life. You plan, and you plan, and sometimes something just comes along and surprises you... hence the fact that I am not a 30 something career girl, working in a fancy law firm, with a group of oddballs hanging around me, all the while sharing a unisex bathroom. Yes, I thought I was literally going to be Ally McBeal. (In my defense, you have to remember that I was only 22 when I came up with this master plan.)

Some things happened as planned, and some things (like my husband) were a welcome deviation. In the last decade, I have moved to the East Coast without knowing a soul, attended and finished Law School, met and married my husband, passed the bar, worked for three years at my dream job, bought and decorated a home, had a baby, lost a baby, got pregnant again (which we all know took some serious work), made some amazing friends, watched my sisters grow up, watched my son grow up, watched my husband grow up, and I have even done some growing up myself. Oh, and I've started a blog :). None of this is any kind of earth shattering accomplishment, but it has been my journey, and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. I feel very fortunate about what I have been given, and where I am in my life, and had I known where I would be now, at 22, I can assure you that I would have been able to relax A LOT more along the way.

Now, as I look forward to the next decade, I find myself in a completely different place than I was a 10 years ago. Not just location wise, lifestyle wise, or  even physically, but here I am at 32, and I find that have absolutely no plan for the next decade of my life. Sure we may or may not move to the West Coast, I may or may not stumble upon my new "dream job" (which is defined as one that allows me to drop off and pick up my kiddies when they are in school full time), I may or may not finish my novel, cure cancer, find a solution for world peace, etc**.. really, it's all up in the air at this point. The only thing that I do know, is that in 10 years my little man and my baby boy will no longer be little nor will he a baby. At 42, I will be in another and completely different phase in my life. The LM will be about to enter high school, the baby will be almost 10, and I hope I will still be the center of their lives as I'm sure they will still be the center of mine (a mom can dream can't she?)

The only guarantee is that time will continue to fly, and for now I am so grateful that I am able to spend every minute, of every day, with the people I love the most. That is the best present I could ever be given, and rather than celebrating my age, that is something worth having a party over.

*Which looks nothing like the above picture. Instead, we went to swimming, school, I had my teeth cleaned, ordered chinese, put on paper hats, lit up a cupcake and sang happy birthday to me (which somehow morphed into happy birthday for the LM who then devoured my cake!) In my head, however, we looked like those cool cats and partied like it was 1999, or I guess 1950????
**Don't think I don't recognize that NONE of these things are going to happen.