Birthdays are great! Or really anytime you get to celebrate the monumental events in life whether it’s a birthday, anniversary, graduation, marriage, engagement, retirement, it’s all good, no matter if it’s your celebration or someone else’s. I dedicate an entire chapter in my book on this topic, Life is good, but it can also be the opposite of a bowl of cherries - remember the Erma Bombeck book with a title a play on the saying, life’s a bowl of cherries, If Life’s a Bowl of Cherries, What am I Doing in the Pits? To be be able to share in another person’s goodness is a gesture of kindness. It can also be a gift to you. To smile, maybe shed a year of happiness, if that’s called for, may increase your endorphins production, help decrease cortisone levels and it will just make you feel better to be part of another person or family’s celebration.
Irma Bombeck, author of If Life’s A Bowl of Cherries What Am I Doing In the Pits?
Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to help plan numerous birthday parties for our kids, a foreign exchange student, family members, wedding showers, engagement parties, surprise parties, rehearsal dinners, and I’ve been on the receiving end too. The best are those I’ve planned for others, for “Tis better to give than to receive,” by far.
Photos from celebrations in our life as a family…
Every day, every year we are given here on this earth to be with those we love, truly is a gift. Celebrate the days and times you are together. Why wait until they are gone to celebrate their life? Let them know how you feel, what qualities you admire in them and just how special they are to you. It doesn’t have to be a monumental event or celebration. It could be spoken words with a hug, written in a heartfelt letter or even a heartfelt text, if that’s appropriate at the time, but do it! None of us know what tomorrow may bring and you wouldn’t want to “wish you had.” Same with a celebration. It could be a scheduled phone call, a gathering or party, but too, it could be a meet up for coffee, lunch, a dinner out or in or a little happy hour (like I always say the food is secondary for the people around the table where the people who are there).
…and then some. Bottom right corner, Teta Anna and myself on one of our outings to Target. We’d go to Walmart, Target or Meijers for some grocery shopping and having fun.
Sometimes these moments just happen and the opportunity just presents its self. I remember my Teta Anna (Aunt Anna in Macedonian), on the last Christmas Eve she was here and we had that encounter. She really wasn’t my Aunt, she was my Dad’s cousin, but all those years growing up, she was at the birthday parties, dance recitals and special occasions, she felt like a special Aunt. I spoke with her nephews, her immediate family as she never married and devoted her life to caring for her parents, (paraphrasing here)“I just want to be her fun. You all are closest to her, the medical decisions, the financial decisions, I respect that that’s your role, I just want to spend time with her, as she was so good to me growing up.” (Tim and Terry took good are of Teta and saw to every detail of her medical care and finances, all in her best interest, she had been a big part of their lives growing up and adult years). Our family had gone to Christmas Eve Church, I took a separate car and stopped by the assisted living place where she lived. It was about 8 pm, I went in with a little plate of cutout cookies. She said that she thought I’d stop by. I gave her a hug and we both started to cry. She told me that she now knew what it might feel like to have a daughter. I sat with her for a while and we told one another how much we appreciate the other. That type of conversation had not happened before and I will always be grateful for it and for the role she had in my life. Teta Anna passed away towards the end of that next summer.
Life goes fast. Yes it can be busy and hectic. Take the time to celebrate the happy occasions, small and large and take the time to tell those you love, just how special they are. Wishing you many Great Days 🌼
