I have a birthday this week….nevermind which one. I get sentimental around birthdays just like I do at holiday seasons. There is something about another year in a life, another year of memories, change, and growth. Another year down the road as well- roads that we may never walk again. This year has been filled with many new directions for me personally as well as professionally. I see my life in all its stages very clearly this year and this birthday and I must say it is thought provoking.

My oldest child is about to start that new path which inevitably leads to roads he will never walk again as well as exciting new paths. He is off to college in the fall. I can hardly believe he is old enough and that I am now wearing my parents shoes as I went off to college. Sure makes me pause and review all that has happened in my life thus far. I then jump to my own parents and I see very clearly that which will come. Just as I am now experiencing their feelings as their children all left home and also begin to experience some of what will come as another year in my life passes.

Birthdays give us a chance to review where we have been and also where we are going. I have set my feet upon many new roads this past year and know there are many things I have left behind never to experience again. I also know that my next year of life will hold as well the many new people and experiences that have not been explored or seen. I am excited to go forward with eyes wide open, heart ready and a mind eager to learn.

Isn’t that what birthdays are all about? Not the cake, not the presents, but the gift of perspective of what has been and what will be. And the gift to yourself to celebrate the here and now and get on with it- life is waiting.

(P.S. A birthday cake is awfully nice, however!)

Claudia