“Grow old with me! The best is yet to be.” ~Robert Browning
My birthday is coming up. Something that I continue to forget until someone brings it to my attention and requests to know what ‘We’ will be doing for my birthday. When asked, my response is usually a half-hearted shrug because there are no plans and I’m finally realizing that all of those things that adults warned about growing up? Are actually true. Sometimes adults – the real ones, not the type of adult I pretend to be – are right. Birthday’s come faster and faster each year and I continue to be baffled at their speed of arrival since I spent years counting down the days to my birthday and now I think Oh, my birthday.
I spent my grade school years up until college wanting elaborately planned parties inviting everyone in my class and positioning myself for some sought after level of popularity. One that I never achieved and cannot for the life of me figure out why at 12, I thought that inviting a certain girl to my birthday party would make me awesome. Actually, AWESOME. The ridiculous nature of my behavior from ages eight to 17, however normal it may have been, is ludicrous and causes me to shake my head in complete shame and idiocy.
This year, I do have plans for my birthday. Plans to go to DC for a few days including shopping and a wine dinner. They’re my default plans that always bring together my best friends in the world over glasses of Pinot Noir and plates of Camembert and gnocchi. The week after my birthday, I have tickets for a transatlantic flight.
I’m looking forward to my birthday, not because of some big event and a party, but because I’m long past my need to have everyone I’ve ever met in my life there just for some stupid goal of popularity. I will be and like to keep things simple. No matter how ridiculous trite it may sound, my big plans this year will include being surrounded by people I for whom there are not enough words in the English language to describe how I feel about them and a few days at the Louvre coupled with a visit to Versailles. And really, it doesn’t get much better than that.
14 Comments
The ridiculous nature of my behavior from ages eight to 17, however normal it may have been, is ludicrous and causes me to shake my head in complete shame and idiocy.
Oh, the truth in that sentence would make Jesus feel like a liar by comparison. We’re not just talking about birthdays either.
when is the big day?
I love birthdays for just that. Because it is an excuse to have everyone that truly means the world to you, all around you in one place.
And it doesn’t hurt that they usually buy you free drinks.
You know, with age comes the realization that simple is better. Have a good one.
My favorite birthday ever was this last year’s, when I threw a party for all my friends and cooked for them and did all the organizing and planning. It was the best because, like you said, the best thing is being with friends, and the best present is to be able to show them how much I love them.
That sounds like perfect birthday to me. I haven’t celebrated my birthday since I was nine. I turned 40 this year.
Put me in your suitcase!
here’s to more infinite wisdom and many drinks.
Happy upcoming birthday, and I like the idea of a wine dinner.. is it what I think it is?
My birthday’s coming up soon too. I’m building a fort and having a disney movie marathon because 22 seems, to me, to be the right age for that sort of behaviour
Happy upcoming birthday. Enjoy your friends and remember keeping it real is the reality of the late 20s and early 30s stage. It’s so great not feeling that teenage popularity pressure anymore!
Can I say Happy Birthday now? In case the power is out again and I miss it?
Because to me? Birthdays are ALL ABOUT THE BIRTHDAY GIRL.
Happy Birthday!!
It’s true, isn’t it, about the birthdays coming faster every year? Like an ever-concentric roll of toilet paper.
Happy Birthday, Heather B.
October 26th… October 26th… October 26th…
My birthday is also coming up, and I have a neurotic need to spend it alone (it’s a weird thing, I know) but your trip to France sounds awesome and is making me jealous enough to check out what USAir is offering (ha, as all frequent travelers know, USAir sucks, but I live near a hub so it’s unavoidable and thus where all of my miles are).
Celebrate and have a great time. The coming year shall be a good one.
And may you not go on a date with a guy who tells you that once you turn 25, if you’re rounding off numbers, you’re basically 30.