Sunday, January 29, 2012

Getting Older: Birthdays and Life Lessons

Yesterday I turned 29, and after a lovely relaxed evening with friends and little ones, I though about how different I used to view birthdays.  Over the years my feelings have changed gradually towards birthdays.  As a child I boiled over with excitement for my birthday party!  I always had tons of friends over to help celebrate, and my parents went all out! 

Things started to change a little around my 13th birthday.  By this time I had a few different groups of friends: I was going to a new school, so I had new friends, had my good friends from my old school, friends that were home schooled and my dance friends.  It was too difficult to keep everyone happy and getting along, and in the end I was the one who was unhappy :(  Gradually over the course of high school my birthday celebrations got a lot more low key.  Less people and shorter parties. 

As I got older I had a harder and harder time hosting parties, even though I loved being a host, because I would always want things to go a certain way, and I'd get stressed if it didn't live up to my expectations.  in 2010 I spent my birthday alone, because I just wanted it to be a day where I did what I wanted to do.  I went to my favorite restaurant, bought a little cake from my favorite bakery, had a glass of wine and relaxed in a bubble bath.  Last year I spent just with my family where we went to Nelson for the day and out for dinner.  This year I think might have been my favorite so far!  It was my first birthday as a Mama, and I decided I just wanted to invite a few close girlfriends over to visit.  I told everyone it was pot luck style, so we all contributed, and we spent the evening chatting, laughing and playing with the kidlets.

Over the past 3 years I have definitely become more relaxed and layed back in general.  I think that this is the most important thing when looking at hosting any kind of event.  Remembering that no one is ever in FULL CONTROL of how an event will turn out, so that you can relax and just enjoy the moment.  Don't worry about being late, or other people being on time.  Don't make rigid plans, because when there's more than just you involved things change minute to minute!

Over all... I am really enjoying getting older!

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