Two of my favorite people ever, Emilie and Caida, celebrate birthdays this week. Paul's was just under a month ago. I LOVE BIRTHDAYS!!! I even kinda like mine, as long as I don't get my hopes up too much. ;) I feel like birthdays are so amazing we have to celebrate them for a whole week. How many times do we get a day completely devoted to everyone's appreciation for YOU? Just once a year! I try to make birthdays extra special.
Special doesn't necessarily mean expensive, but it sure is nice to have money. Not that I care much about presents, really. I usually get things I don't really want or need, and I often forget who gave me what, anyway. But I LOVE using birthdays to celebrate and make memories. We try to do something new and fun every year, whether it's going to LegoLand or an off-Broadway play. Traveling places, eating good food, and doing new things make birthdays SO MUCH FUN!!! And we have fun birthday tradition with "Happy Birthday, Moon," that makes birthday eve the best!
I want a few birthdays to be even MORE spectacular than the others: specifically, 8, 12, and 16. Those are the milestone years in the church, I think, and more importantly, they were the years in our house we were allowed to have a birthday party that included more than just family. I don't know what special thing I'm going to do for my sons on their 8th and 12th birthday (maybe I'll leave that up to their dad), but when my daughters turn 8 they're going to get a handmade-by-me dollhouse. Old-school and cherished, the kind of thing they could have for YEARS and give to their own daughters. And when my daughters turn 12, I'm getting them a hope chest. We got one when we were 14, and it made moving out SO much easier on the wallet. Of course, I don't think I have ANYTHING I had in my hope chest since I've moved SO many times, but that chest now holds all our board games. So it's still got some use in it. :)
When our kids turn 16, I'm totally going to steal one of my dearest friend's husband's mom's idea (yes, Clair and BJ, I'm talking about you) and send them on an adventure all by themselves. I LOVE this idea. My parents didn't mean to do this with us, but I got to celebrate my 16th birthday in Florida with our high school bands over Spring Break. We marched in the Mardi Gras parade at Universal Studios, played at the Epcot center in Disney World, and I think on my actual birthday we went to Cocoa Beach, the Kennedy Space Center, and Medieval Times. I know my family was actually pretty poor at that time, but they sprung for this trip and I am SO GRATEFUL to my parents for doing so. Even though I wasn't in a very happy place at that time in my life, it's a memory that not everyone gets to claim. I find that amazing.
Other great birthdays: 12th birthday (basketball party at the church!), 15th (even though my parents announced their intent to divorce just 3 days before it, they made up for it by taking me to Indy to see "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat"), 19th (my new BYU friends threw a surprise party for me and it was actually a SURPRISE!), 24th (Lindsey and I got pedicures--my first and last so far--and then we went to a Chinese restaurant and ate everything we'd ever been too chicken to try, then went to try on expensive shoes with our new pretty feet), and 27th (student teaching, the Melting Pot, and "Beauty and the Beast"). This year will be pretty amazing, too--we're going to NYC to visit Emilie on her spring break! And I'm sure the best is yet to come. :)
I enjoy planning other's birthdays even more than my own, though. Paul's 25th LEGO birthday will go down in history as possibly the coolest party ever. :) And I have more ideas than we'll probably have birthdays, so I can't wait to grow up!
In sum: BIRTHDAYS ROCK!
That's so interesting that you want to do something extra special for those birthdays. My mom did that. I think at eight I had a little tea party, and at twelve I had a facial party, and at 16 I had a surprise first date (I got kidnapped). Birthdays are fun. They were never a big deal in my husband's family. They always have cake and ice cream, but otherwise no hoopla of any kind. My Mom had three birthday songs that we'd sing for everyone's b-day, and then she also had our own personal songs . . . fairly familiar songs that she'd changed the lyrics to in order to personalize them for us. My husband doesn't get it, but oh well. :) I haven't actually decided what I want to do. I've got four more years to figure it out. :D
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