birthday

Shhh! I am hiding out, taking a few minutes away from my two-year old granddaughters' birthday party. Hey, I've already paid my birthday dues! When her mommy was her age, I was quite the birthday maven, the renegade mom who threw the most fun birthday parties ever. I defied the fireworks law to have major sparks at my daughters' party. All the little kids (and lots of the parents) wanted to be on the scene.
Now it's my daughters' turn. That's as it should be. The world keeps moving on.
I overheard a birthday song on Yo! Gabba Gabba, one of the favorite shows of my grand kids. It was Brobbies' birthday and the other characters were singing about the importance of the day. They made such an excellent point, that it's not just about "hooray you're another year older." The celebration is of your birth, a momentous event, a happening from the Divine. It should be marked and honored. That show made me think of my own birthday, so close to Christmas and trumped by the holidays for as long as I can remember.
Next year I'm going to celebrate my birthday in June, a "half-birthday." And I'm going to celebrate for all the years that I was told "you know that Christmas gift I gave you? Well that's your birthday present, too."
 That's a lot of celebrating because I'm old as dirt.
Happy Birthday!