This past week I celebrated my 27th *gasp* birthday. I, like many people, used to dread birthdays. I mean who wants to get older? Except wait- if we weren’t getting older we’d be dead (or worse getting younger and NO ONE wants to go back to those awkward teenage years). So rather than being depressed about getting yet another year closer to the big 3-0 I decided to embrace this birthday as the first day of the rest of my life! I took the opportunity to do a bit of shopping, get a new haircut, and celebrate with my family at a great restaurant we usually wouldn’t indulge in.
One of the things missing in my life currently is peace and quiet. I attribute that mostly to my almost 3 year old. And when he’s having a calm moment, there’s always Zsa Zsa, my Bichon. She’s gotten much better with age (she’s going on 5) but she is still pretty high maintenance. Since it has been quite a looooooong time since I had a chance to sleep through the night without waiting for Jack or Zsa Zsa to wake me up, I decided that for my birthday I wanted a night AWAY. I didn’t have to go far, I just wanted to be able to get into bed and go to sleep without a dog laying on my legs and a son who might awake at any moment with a bad dream. I hopped online and made myself a reservation at a nearby Embassy Suites (they have an indoor pool, a bar, and free breakfast, what more could a girl ask for) and decided I would check in right after my birthday dinner. I didn’t end up swimming, but the room was wonderful and having a king sized bed all to myself while watching a movie that I wouldn’t have to pause for any interruptions was heavenly.
During my quiet time, I realized that aging is all about how you approach it. Kids think getting older is exciting. My son is anxiously awaiting turning 5, because he has already been told that’s when he will be old enough to go to a football game. Kids get to have really cool birthday parties (I’m already brainstorming about Jack’s 3rd birthday which will be Toy Story themed and isn’t until April) and everybody celebrates the new year they are embarking on. Kid’s ages are marked with accomplishments and goals, potty training at 2, pre-school at 3 etc. For my 27th year, I want to set some goals. Maybe I won’t get all of them met, but that will just leave something for 28! This year I want to work on getting in shape, and keeping up with my running more consistently. I also want to work on my language skills, I used to be almost fluent in French, and it would be a shame to lose it completely. Another goal is to start actually saving money, after all I only have 15 years to save for Jack’s college education! Not to mention I’m going to need a new car in the next year, maybe year and a half. Saving money would be easier if I was making more money, so workplace advancement is another goal of mine. I’m sure I will think of more things I would like to accomplish as the year goes on.
As adults we should try and get a little more excited about getting a year older. It means we have a whole year of additional experience under our belts! A whole year in which we tried new things, read new books, made new friends, or saw new places. If you keep life interesting, every year can be celebrated as a new opportunity to have a better year than the one before.
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