Living the Life: Reflections from turning Late 20's.

The Thursday night/Friday morning before my birthday I was restless couldn't get any sleep- full of list of things to do- so I did some things, including emailing the coordinator at the restaurant my birthday brunch was supposed to take place on Saturday morning. Since it was 3 am, I did not get a response until much much later. After exchanging a series of annoying emails with the coordinator- I called her, only to find out she could not accomodate my large group. So, I canceled the birthday celebration. With a very heavy heart, I felt horrible canceling barely 24 hours in advance. But there was also a sense of relief, I just had so much to do, that it seemed perfect that I had the next day to clean and pack (mostly clean) as I prepared to go away 2 days after my birthday.

When I told everyone about the canceled plans- I was overwhelmed with request to simply, do something else. It is no easy feat to find a place to accomodate 25+ people for the following day- and I just didn't have it in me to go through all that, and put the stress back on.

So my besties told me don't plan a thing- they will give me a time and location and I should just be there.
My cousins and brother were still planning to celebrate, even if it was at ihop, and it also seemed, even if I wasn't there.

So these were my new birthday plans.

Right after midnight a friend calls and tells me he is about to go to a party, and he'll have a drink in my honor. And a light bulb went off in my head, I asked "can you take a picture and send it to me?"

And the idea was born- I asked my friends and family that were supposed to be at my birthday and some others that couldn't make it to send me pictures of them celebrating my birthday.

And it just made my day so much better. On top of my awesome lunch, my thoughtful dinner (and gifted macaroons, because I will be missing macaroon day), the pictures, video and messages that accompanied them was like a never ending celebration. I don't know what to do with these pictures and the messages- a fb status isn't enough- I fear this blog may not be enough, but for now it's the best idea I have, short of printing them all and putting them into some sort of book.

The point of it all is, my birthday was absolutely perfect although it was all "wrong". It was filled with so much love and appreciation going in every direction. I sat back and let my loved ones do something for me, let go of some control and it was all ok. Better than ok. Filled with love and gratitude.