Timing

Monday is my birthday! Hip Hip Hooray! I am seriously an overgrown child when it comes to my birthday. And I am not even remotely embarrassed or ashamed of it. Hello?!?! It's the day when I came into the world! Of course we should celebrate! Princess tiaras, feathery boas...bring it on! Typically I over-indulgence myself for about a week or so. I plan dinners out, game nights, spa days, shopping trips....whatever floats my boat that year - and then I tell everyone they have to be there. For the most part, my friends and family give in gracefully and indulge me as well - and, of course, a good time is had by all.

This year is slightly different because I'm splitting my celebration in two. Also, my birthday is on a Monday, so people are less likely to agree that I deserve two weekends. Ideally, I like my birthday to be on Wednesday. That way I get a pre-birthday weekend, my actual birthday, AND a post birthday weekend. Monday is kinda killing it for me. So I am having a long birthday weekend and then at the end of the month, my friend Cindy and my sis and I are all going to have a spa day and night out to mutually celebrate our clustered birthdays. (I am a birthday diva, but I have no problem sharing birthday celebration, as long as we are still celebrating)

The other thing about birthdays, besides my relentless pursuit of enjoyment, is that it is always kind of the time where I take stock of life. (Ok, Stephanie, you are 31...what the hell are you doing? ) More so than New Years with its defeatist resolutions, my birthday is the time where I think about how I want to go forward, about what I want my life to look like, about the kind of person that I want to spend my life with. I am not even going to lie, several of my post divorce birthday conversations with myself were not so positive. And maybe on one or two of my birthday celebrations, the goal may have been get drunk and not examine it too closely. Sometimes it was hard to look past the heartbreak of the moment to keep perspective. But every year, regardless of what happens, my birthday rolls back around. And every year, I am in a new place - it just reminds me that time does heal, time does change things...and it changes me. Almost exclusively for the better.

The older I get, the easier it is to appreciate the timing in life. Sometimes it is about the timing of events....when is the best time to fall in love, go to school, get married, eat a whole box of donuts? (I went to Tim Horton's the other day and glaze donuts have been dancing in my head ever since, sorry) Sometimes it is the timing of people in our life. I know that I take digs at Brad fairly often - and make no mistake I think I earned that right - but for all he did wrong....at one point in time he was exactly who I needed him to be. He was right for me - in that time. Ditto for John Black. He was exactly the person I needed at that time. Both of them changed me for the better in many ways, but neither of them would truly appreciate the person that I am today. Time continues on. And I am sure that when the time is right again...I will meet a man that loves dogs, thinks I am sexiest when I am wrestling with my baby nephew, and wants to sit in a pew with me on Sunday mornings with my family. And every year he will give me princess tiaras and feathery boas for my birthday.