38

Last night when I got home from the library (I work late on Mondays), I opened the door to a surprise. Kendell and the kids were sitting at the kitchen table, with all the lights off, just a candle burning on a cake. They started singing happy birthday to me, and I (of course) started crying. It was a sweet moment. Haley had hung up a sign, and they'd strung streamers:

and everyone had made me a card. We ate cake and ice cream, and talked about their preparations (Haley forgetting to grease the cake pans and how Kendell managed to get the cake out unbroken anyway, the shopping, the deliberations in the card aisle, hoping I wouldn't be home late) and our day.

I tend to get a little bit bristly about my birthday as I get older.  I don't want it to be a big deal because it makes me uncomfortable to be in the spotlight. Still, I am relishing today anyway—the Facebook birthday wishes, the texts and phone calls from friends, and just the idea that it is OK to celebrate a little bit. Even Mother Nature seems to be saying happy birthday today:

That lone tulip (I need to plant new bulbs) and the bleeding heart bloomed just this morning; the flowering plum is, while permanently disfigured, still beautiful, and those yellow jonquils simply make me happy because they exist—they are tiny things, the size of my thumb, and I didn't plant them. They just showed up a few springs ago.

I keep thinking that I should have something profound and wise to say today. At least something witty. But all I have is this strange and happy hope that is burbling around in my heart this morning: that things will always keep on getting better, that I will be able to realize my before-I-turn-forty personal goals (the marathon, the novel), that my family will be happy and my kids continue to progress. That hope is exactly all I need.

Comments

[Andrea]

Happy Birthday!

[Britt]

Have a happy day! Thirty-eight is GREAT!

[Kristin]

Happy Birthday Amy!! How is it that we turn 38 this year? Wasn't it just yesterday when we were eating peanut butter sandwiches in the lunchroom at Sage Creek? That our 3rd grade classroom burned? AND WE STILL HAD TO GO TO SCHOOL ANYWAY?! Bummer. That we got to play with snakes in Mr. Whiting's class? That we learned to play the harmonica in Mr. Strong's class? I can still puff out those songs that he taught us much to the amusement of my kids. If you would only do your hair in ringlets you would look exactly the same. :)

I'm glad you had a nice celebration. You deserve it!!

[becky]

Happy birthday!!!! LOVE that K & the kids did so much for your birthday last night. Makes me want to hug them all for making your day special. :0

[Isabel]

Happy Birthday Amy!!! May your life just keep getting better and better.

[cris]

I love the simple happiness you found in the day.... I don't think it could be said any better than that. Happy Birthday!

[Helena]

Awww! Wonderful! Happy birthday!

[Apryl]

April is the perfect birthday month, don't you think? HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

[Maureen]

How sweet, Happy Birthday!!

[Charni]

Happy Birthday Amy! How special with the surprise and the "smile" from Mother Nature!
Charni

[Valerie]

Happy Birthday, Amy

[jamie `]

Happy Birthday Amy, The flower pictures are really beautiful. I loved Haley's sign. It looked like a sign the daughter of a talented scrapper would make. :)
surprises are so fun. as you get older they seem to get further between making them all the more special. love you!

[Wendy]

I have been fretting over the fact that I got so far on my Secret Drawer novel during the NaNoWriMo exercise, only to let it sit for months ... unfinished. Now, I know what I must do. My 45th birthday is towards the end of May. I must make the completion my goal for my birthday.