Birthdays are for Celebrating

I have always been a proponent of celebrating birthdays in a big way. Why not? It’s the anniversary of the day you were born, and that’s pretty special as far as I am concerned. Mostly, it’s an excuse to go out to dinner (or have someone make you dinner) and imbibe in a big fat piece of cake. Who doesn’t like that?

When I was growing up, everyone had same-sex birthday parties in their house. No one had money to host parties at venues such as bowling alleys or bouncy-house gyms like families do these days. Gosh, I know I am dating myself. I remember one particular birthday party that I had when my Mom served White Castle hamburgers. I think we were about 11-years old at the time.

Someone (I never figured out who), carefully removed each onion piece from their burgers and placed them in our end-table drawer. Do you have any idea how many diced pieces of onions are on each White Castle burger? For about 2-3 days after the party, you could still smell the “belly-bombers” in our living room. We all thought it was because White Castle had a distinct smell and that it would dissipate soon enough. When it didn’t, my mom did a search under the couch cushions, the couch itself, and finally in the end-table drawers. She was not pleased with what she found! I was read the riot act and she swore she’d never let me have another birthday party again. Of course, she gave me a party the next year, but she did not serve White Castle!

As I got older and became in charge of my own birthday celebrations I really went a bit overboard. I remember when I was living in Brooklyn and working in NYC, I used to celebrate my birth week. Yep, all seven days! I ate way too much, drank a ridiculous amount of beer and did shots of Jamison’s whiskey (my favorite). I went to work feeling gross every day. I thought I was having the time of my life, but in retrospect, I now realize I was nuts. What’s that saying, “the frivolity of youth?” I was definitely frivolous! This was not one of the proudest times of my life.

Luckily, I got married and my birthday celebrations involved my (somewhat) rational husband. We celebrated only one day. If my birthday fell on a weekend we would go out to dinner on the actual day. If not, we’d go out on the weekend either before or after my birthday. My celebrations suddenly became sensible, which was a good thing. I was actually growing up!

Then, a funny thing happened. I started to have milestone birthdays. Ugh! Suddenly, I was turning 40 and then, gasp, 50! Yikes, how could that be possible? I had a formal dinner party on my 40th birthday, and then the hubby threw me a surprise party on my 50th birthday. Both parties were perfect and made me feel very special. I managed to get past both of those milestones with hardly a blip. I didn’t notice a change in my overall abilities, so I didn’t feel any older. Besides, fifty was the new thirty, right?

Well, what about sixty? Why does that sound ancient? Why do I feel when I turn sixty, I will suddenly need hearing aids, a walker, and start drinking Metamucil? Can you relate? Unfortunately, it is fast approaching! I have been struggling with the thought of turning sixty for the past couple of weeks. I truly never thought I would have lived past thirty, and here I am, doubling that milestone! I am not sure why I am feeling so anxious about this next birthday, but I am. My brothers and sister and a few friends have already turned sixty, and nothing crazy happened to them. Intellectually, I know it is going to be a great big nothing once the “big day” has come and gone yet emotionally, I am a bit of a wreck over it.

I’ve decided the best way for me to be able to usher in this milestone is to take it up a notch. I am going to celebrate my birth month. Yep, all thirty days! How fun will that be? I will be doing this minus the drinking of my youth (gave that up a long time ago). I kicked off the month by going out to dinner with some childhood friends on February 1st. I watched the Superbowl and had all sorts of delicious snacks yesterday. I might get my nails done today. I am going to do one thing every day that I really enjoy. I am going to celebrate all month long! I think I deserve it. I beat cancer in my fifties so I plan on living it up in my sixties.

My mom used to have a saying, “If you want to get something done right, you need to do it yourself.” I agree! So, I am going to do lots of random acts of kindness because that is something I love to do. I am going to make a concerted effort to be happy and grateful for the life I have because who knows when that might change? I am going to embrace my wrinkles and my gray hair. I have earned every one of them.

Also, I am going to go to Aveda and pick up my free birthday gift. Heck, I might even go to IHOP for my free birthday breakfast, and then to On the Border for my free lunch! February is going to be an epic month of celebrating that I do not feel sixty.