{FF} ♥ Birthdays! ♥

My 4th birthday, circa 1984.

Simply put, I love birthdays.  They are a beautiful celebration of life and love and as far as I'm concerned there isn't much that gets better than that.  From the time I was little, birthdays have been a big deal at my house.  When my brother and I were younger, my parents {especially my mom} would go to great lengths to create the birthday party of our dreams each year.  The planning for such parties began a month or so in advance with the selection of our theme.  Would it be a Strawberry Shortcake, She-Ra, or Jem birthday {for me} or a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Shamu, or Batman birthday {for my brother}?  {Yes, we were both children of the 80's.}

The invites, paper plates, goodie bags, and pinata all centered around this theme, and the week before each party was spent preparing the house for all of our family and friends coming to celebrate.  I always loved receiving the responses of who was coming, and choosing the perfect outfit to wear for the party.  The whole process just made me feel so special.

That process of preparation took the one day of my actual birthday and stretched it to a birthday celebration week.  And, many times in my case our family would be on vacation for my actual birthday which meant a small celebration with the four of us on our trip in addition to the big party at home.  This stretched my birthday celebrations even farther to where I was comfortable declaring "Birthday month!" come August 1st.

This concept of a birthday week and birthday month were foreign to my husband when we first met, but now, years later, he's come to expect them not only for me, but for himself as well {which I find incredibly cute}.  And now we celebrate in a whole host of ways, dining on a favorite meal out {or in} just the two of us, a birthday dinner and cake {or pie} with both sides of the family {mine & his}, and/or a big party with family and friends here at the house or a favorite venue.  It's all quite elaborate and designed to truly celebrate the person who's birthday it is and everything they're all about.

And so it goes, that in this house birthdays will always be a big deal.

Why a Friday Favorite all about birthdays?  Well, it's my birthday month! August 14th is fast approaching, and true to form, our house is under preparation for the celebration we'll host for our family and friends.  I'm very excited.

Beyond the celebrating and festivities, I do really look at my birthday as an opportunity to take stock of what's transpired between my last birthday and the current one, where I'm headed in the near future, and where I'd like to be 10 birthdays from now.  This particular year I'm feeling overwhelmingly blessed and grateful.  Are there things I would like to change?  Absolutely, and I'm working on those.  :)  But there are far many more things when I look at my life that are completely and exactly as they should be.

For that, I am humbled and overjoyed, and just full of love.  To all of you who help make my life that way everyday, I love you very much.  And to all of my fellow Leos and August birthday month cohorts - happy birthday to you!

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