BIRTHDAY REFLECTIONS

This morning when I woke up, my first thought was that the day had finally arrived that I’ve been waiting for so long. Today was my 35th Birthday. Normally, my birthday isn’t that big of a deal to me, but this year, I felt that turning 35 is a remarkable milestone for me. And, after the year of growth I’ve experienced, I felt it called for a celebration.

So, I woke up and things didn’t really feel all that different to me. So, it’s my birthday, big deal. It felt like just any other ordinary day. But this was supposed to be an extraordinary day for me. But, there were chores I had to do before I went to church, and I did have to play for Mass this morning.

Following Mass, much to many people’s chagrin, I met Parker for lunch at my favorite little Italian restaurant and had to come home immediately afterwards because FINALLY we had a showing of the house. The showing came and went. Then I had a little down time before time to get ready for my birthday dinner.

There were a few extraordinary things that happened today. While driving home from lunch, my phone rang. It was my mother. Yes, my mother. The one I haven’t spoken to in well over two years. I’ve told the story to a few people, and their reaction was almost unanimously the same: What did she say? How was it? Well, it went as well as almost any conversation with my mother has ever gone. And, in some ways was like talking to a stranger. After all, in some ways, after all this time, she is a bit of a stranger to me. Still, today, my 35th birthday, was the day she felt would be the day to reach out. I suppose I’m happy about that, because there is at least some form of contact now, yet, I remain a bit confused about how I feel about things and it may take me a little while to process fully. It will certainly provide me some fodder for upcoming blogs.

After a relaxing afternoon of well, just relaxing, I took a shower, got dressed and headed to The Summit, the large mall where my birthday dinner was to take place. I got there a little early, so I decided to walk up the hill to Barnes & Noble for a few minutes just to look around. As I made my way back down the hill towards the restaurant,
A smile came over my face as I walked out of the bookstore and headed to meet my friends for dinner. This is the day to which I've been looking so forward for so long now. And these friends were coming together for ME. To celebrate ME. Wow. It was a feeling that has me at an absolute loss for words.

Dinner was absolutely fabulous. Visiting with and being around my friends was wonderful. There was one friend who was unable to make it, due to circumstances mostly beyond his control, whose presence would have made the evening most complete, but aside from that, the evening went very well and was as well or better than I had imagined in my head.

Here’s my confession: Birthdays have never been to me anything more than just an ordinary day. This one, however, was special, is special. This was the happiest birthday I’ve ever had. It wasn’t about the gifts I received, though I’m most appreciative of them, it was about the people in my life. People who cared enough to give of their time to celebrate with me. It was the laughter we shared together, it was as though all my worries, all my fears, everything just stopped for those few moments in time. It was all about me. And that’s something I’m still getting used to. I’m happy. Very happy. And, as I go to take my rest for the evening, I do so with so much gratitude in my heart for the simplest of blessings. I’m so blessed to be surrounded by some very special people in my life. They don’t care that I’m sometimes silly, that I make a fool of myself a lot. They care about me. And, you know, I could lose it all, and as long as I have that, I feel like I’d be the richest man in the entire world. Happy Birthday? Absolutely the best.