Birthdays are funny things. For example: When you're a child, they are definitely the highlight of the year….the one time you can probably get away with anything, and wearing your new (and yes, mine were definitely home-made from some hideous curtain material) party dress. You await with baited breath for the doorbell to ring and your school friends came for tea. I always wanted cauliflower cheese, but this was never an option and so it was the usual sandwiches, sausage rolls and crisps with cake and jam tarts, followed by 'pass the parcel' and 'squeak piggy squeak' (which I absolutely hated and ended up in a "it's my party and I'll cry if I want to" senario). I can't quite imagine the parents of today getting away with the ease of such birthday celebrations. We have seemed to bastardise the whole process, and instead of purely celebrating the birthday, it now has turned into a 'freak-look-at-what-my-parents-have-got-me-this-year competition'.
My sweet sixteen was greeted with a Home Economics basket. True, it was what I needed, but bittersweet really, as I only got to use it four times before taking my exam and finishing school……
17,18,19 & 20 were celebrated in style with friends and youthful energy.
For my 21st I remember getting a set of ceramic saucepans with removable handles, and a Lladro Duck.
And yet from then on, I really, really can't remember anything in particular about each birthday….. It's ONE day a year! I know the last two years have been spent in Birmingham Childrens Hospital, but why can't I remember before that? Is it because I haven't done anything significant? Am I the only one that doesn't do anything of great gusto to celebrate? Surely not? Things will have to change. I need to make some fabulous birthday memories before I drop dead from insignificance!
I remember other peoples birthdays….The year it was my best friends 21st and nobody could go to her party because it was snowing so heavily… The last birthday my Grandad had, and I gave him a battenburg cake with a candle in it (much to his humour)…. Megs 4th birthday complete with a bouncy castle in the garden (what was I bloody thinking?!)… Daisy's 12th birthday when we took a group of girls to Woburn Abbey and one of her friends announced to the whole of the park, as a sealion was gracefully swimming past a glass window "ohhh loooook, I can see his penis!"…. My mothers 40th and my fathers 42nd birthday when they separated (yes, on their birthdays! Only a day between them), Craig's 30th in a hot air balloon which crashed (you see why I don't like flying….), Craig's surprise 40th - which nearly shocked him into an early grave….. and other snippets that frequent my hall of memories.
I am definitely going to revitalise myself (this can be done at any age!), my new found love for sewing and my on-going passion for ballet will stay with me until my final breath. I want to 'own' the ageing process, not fight it - to ensure the value of my older self.
So this year I am going to do something lovely. I don't know what yet, but it will be special, and I don't mean I require a week in The Bahamas or a new diamond ring. I hope to see my friends, and giggle, sit back and wallow in gratitude that at 44, life is better than it has been for a long while.
