Year 29

I recently celebrated my 29th birthday. This year also happened to be my golden birthday. Turned 29 on March 29th. To mark the occasion my family went out to eat for dinner. There ended up being 18 of us around the table. I felt incredibly loved and special to have so many people who traveled to celebrate with me.

Now, I recently was reminded that when we celebrate a birthday, the age we are turning actually marks the completion of that many years. So having said that, I have been thinking on what I have come to learn in those 29 years.

I know that it doesn’t take much effort to be kind. People go out of their way to be mean and rude to each other these days and it boggles my mind, and hurts my soul. If you just take a breath, and think a moment, being kind to your fellow person makes the whole day much brighter. Spreading just a little positivity can lift spirits and it might come back around to you in ways you never expected.

Laughter has become some of my favorite sounds. I treasure the memories of chatting with my siblings or my friends and everything we said would just make us laugh even more. My parents were never afraid to laugh and have fun with us while growing up. They would sing along with us in the car, be incredibly silly with us, and show us that it doesn’t take much to have a wonderful time. Those moments will forever be something I will hold close to my heart.

Finding small moments of joy or positivity can lift your spirit. When I have those days where it felt like everything was working against me, making a small list, just three things long, of the little happy moments, would change my perspective and show me that it wasn’t as dark or bleak as I had thought. Once in a while I reach for one of my notebooks and find that looking back at the happy moments from previous days helped me see that times where I feel like I can’t get any headway, are really not as horrible as I have been thinking.

I have been learning and growing for 29 years, and I will continue to grow and change as I age. So I am grateful for moments like birthdays that remind us to pause and reflect on how far we truly have come.

Thank you to everyone for all the birthday wishes and the love sent my way. Here is to year 30 and all the incredible moments that are to become wonderful memories.

Birthday Traditions!

Today my younger sister turns 23 years old. (I kind of love that she was born in the year 2000 because it makes it pretty easy to keep track of how old she is.) This morning, as a family, we woke her up and gave her the presents from us. Being woken up to get gifts from Mom and Dad started when we were kids and we would have to get up for school pretty early anyways so it made the day’s start much brighter. You start the day feeling spoiled already.

Traditions like that make birthdays special. Each family has their own set, and they may even over lap. I may be biased, but I think my family has found just the right balance to make the birthday person feel celebrated and loved, without going overboard.

Obviously we start the actual day of our birthday with the gifts from immediate family. Often our furry family members will also get involved and give us lots of love in the form of snuggles and kisses. Usually this is followed with getting up and ready for the day. My older brother and I have birthday’s during the school year that would require us to be in class that day. I actually enjoyed, for the most part, having school on my birthday because that meant I could see my friends and celebrate with them. (In college my birthday would fall on one of the first few days back from spring break, so that honestly annoyed me a bit.) My sister gets a lazy morning on her birthday because she is a summer baby.

Most of the celebration comes around dinner time. Once we all make it home for the day, dinner is started. The meal is chosen by the birthday person, and so is dessert. Meals that we don’t normally have in the main rotation, things that take some time to make, are usually chosen. For several years in a row, my brother chose lasagna for his meal. Mine changes depending on my mood when I am asked what I would like. If I remember correctly, this last birthday featured pancakes with strawberries on top.

Dinner is even more of a big deal when it comes to the big family meal. The extended family on my mom’s side will gather, usually the weekend before or after the actual birthday, and we will cook a big meal that was again chosen by the birthday person. I have had homemade beef and broccoli stir fry for my family meal for several years now. (Due to an MSG allergy, I am grateful that my family goes the extra mile to make my meal so that I can enjoy it without worry.) If there is one thing my family can do well, it is cook, so these meals are always incredible and hit that craving spot.

Dessert is ever changing. My brother and I will opt for cheesecake each year. It works out well because or birthdays are almost to the day six months apart, so once I am really craving it again, it is time for us to have it again. Most of my family will have a traditional birthday cake, with the flavor tailored to them. For my sister, that would be a chocolate cake that happens to be from a family recipe. Due to the rich nature of this cake she will put her slice in a bowl and then pour milk on it. The cake breaks apart and she really savors each bite. On the other end of the spectrum, my Grandma (Mom’s Mom) loves to have lemon cake for her birthday.

Gifts from the extended family are given at the big family meal. Even if money is tight, they try to give at least something small to acknowledge the day and the person we are celebrating. There is never a greedy atmosphere. We try to find ways to celebrate that don’t revolve around gifts and things. The birthday person will feel the love and go to bed happy that night anyway.

Here is to my sister,

Today you turn 23! That is a big accomplishment. I couldn’t be prouder of how you have handled every challenge that life has thrown at you. Each day you try so hard to not let anything stand in the way of getting what you want out of life and I am amazed by your resilience. Each year I think back to being in the hospital and wearing those stickers that the nurses gave to our brother and me. (Horrible things really! They didn’t make sense! In the shape of a award ribbon but upside down?) I couldn’t wait to meet you.

Through the years we have had our fights but we always found a way to come back to each other. I hold the memories of us laughing so hard that we couldn’t breathe, but only making it harder by adding something on that made us laugh even more because it made our tangent even funnier. Moments where we were able to communicate across rooms without even saying a word to each other, just a look. I will forever treasure that connection with you.

Here is to year 23! I hope it is filled with good food, good memories, and certainly good people. Wishing you a very Happy Birthday Mon Chou Chou!

<3 Momo

Barbie: The Woman, The Myth, The Legend

Friday, July 21st, I joined my Aunt (mom’s sister) and her family for a birthday trip to the movie theater. We saw the Barbie Movie. As someone who grew up playing with various Barbie dolls, I really enjoyed the movie. There was more depth than I thought there would be. Also the storyline resonated with me. Now, I refuse to provide too many spoilers, so please watch it yourself if you really are interested.

Like I previously stated, I grew up playing with Barbies. I only had my older brother around at family functions until my little sister was born five years after me. Until she was born I didn’t really play that many girly games, but I was all for it by the time she arrived. Thus started my Barbie phase.

Back in the early 2000s, there were not many options to get extra clothes for these dolls, so often we would be playing with very naked toys. My sister created clothes for them out of various colors of duct tape. Honestly it was a decent solution, the dresses never got lost because you could never undress the dolls again. She definitely deserves points for creativity and getting the job done. (Side note: my grandma hated that we had naked dolls, so we would hide them when she came to visit.)

As we would play, our dolls would take damage in the conventional way, but they also would be broken other ways. My family owned a large black lab, named Bella, who developed a keen sense for doll plastics. It became her favorite thing to chew on. So several of our Barbies became amputees and we would play with them even after they began missing limbs. This created another “game” of sorts. Hide the dolls after you were done playing with them so Bella wouldn’t find them and eat a limb off. Finding spots that our Barbies could live in between play sessions that were both safe from Bella, and hidden from my grandma, was a difficult task all on its own. Not sure if this was typical play with other children, but I would throw my dolls down the stairs because they could fly in my imaginary world. My dad is a big superhero fan, so I guess I get it from him.

These dolls went through the wringer at my hands. Barbies were subjected to the same wear and tear that my other childhood toys dealt with. Hair was cut off and such to make them truly a child’s toy. Looking back now, I can’t help but smile at the memories that Barbie helped me create. I didn’t care about the beauty standards she has become the beacon for. I just wanted a person shaped doll, so I could live out my imaginary stories through them. Maybe Barbie helped me on my path to be a writer and story teller.

Birthdays: Celebrating Another Year!

Well, I have made another trip around the sun. I am another year older. Maybe a little bit wiser too? I have always enjoyed the extra love I receive on my birthday. Getting woken up by my parents before they leave for work, so they can be the first ones to wish me a very Happy Birthday and give me my present. This year it was two new sets of very soft pajamas that I was in desperate need of. As I have gotten older I have come to value more the presents that are things that I need and will actually use, than the silly luxury gifts. Things like new pjs and bookmarks from my one of my favorite fandoms, show that the person was really listening to me and knows details about me that shows they care.

I also love gifts of new things I haven’t had the chance to try, especially art things. My friend B. sends me a gift every year and usually it is some art tool I haven’t been brave enough to spend my own money on because I am afraid that I won’t get my moneys worth out of it. I have gotten to try out so many new things just because she is my friend and she listens when I offer up ideas that I would like to try.

Gifts also have a challenge for the Birthday Person, at least I personally have one. I don’t want to ask for too much from my friends and family. Money is a very real worry for me, and I know the feeling of not being able to afford that one thing that my loved one asked for. So to combat this worry a bit, I try and aim for a decent sized list of things that are around $20. Twenty bucks, to me, seems like a nice amount that you can still afford it but it is a quality gift. My friend A. loves when I go to the Dollar Tree to get her gift. The same amount of money gets quite a few little things that she will find useful and like a treat to herself. Like candy that she doesn’t have to share with her son or husband.

Speaking of A., she is what has become known as my Birthday Buddy. Her birthday is the day before mine, so we have taken to picking a day during the week and exchanging gifts between us. During high school, because her birthday means she is just over 24 hours older than me, it was fun to have someone to go through the milestone ages with. Our senior year, our 18th birthdays landed on a weekend, and my family took me out to dinner to celebrate along with a few of my friends. I hesitated planning the dinner for Saturday because that fell on A.’s birthday and I didn’t want to intrude on her day. Thankfully she is an incredible person and she understood when I asked. She attended the dinner and we sang her happy birthday as well.

Looking back on my birthdays, I have always felt loved and celebrated. No matter how small the present, my loved ones have more than made up for it with time. Time spent cooking my favorite meal for a birthday dinner. Time spent picking up a cheese cake from the bakery. (I much prefer cheese cake over regular cake.) Time spent making my heart melt with mushy notes written on cards. Many of which I keep in a treasure box in my bedroom. But most of all, time spent making me laugh and smile.

I am so grateful for my incredible friends and amazing family. They make each trip around the sun that much better.

Springs To Mind

Even as a kid, I preferred spring weather to those of any other season. I have never been a fan of the deep freeze that comes with winter and the extreme heat that summer brings. The colors of fall are pretty incredible, but spring has always had my heart.

The world comes back to life in the spring. Rain storms provide quiet cozy days spent indoors or splashing in puddles. My family’s garden sprouts new seedlings that will soon become beautiful blooms. Daffodils, my favorite flowers, are one of the first to show off their buds of bright yellow. While I was in college they were the first real sign that spring had started to come to campus and that I wouldn’t have to deal with trudging through the slush and snow much longer.

Every year, for as long as I can remember, I would wish for the snow to be all melted by my birthday in the last few days of March. A couple of times I have gotten close, but never have I gotten it to be completely gone. One year it even snowed as late as May. I was certainly not thrilled with Mother Nature then. The sooner all the snow is melted and gone, the better in my opinion.

This year I am looking forward to those late night thunderstorms that have such deep rumbles that you can feel them in your chest. Rain has always been a calming sound to me and I will often play it as a white noise while I am sleeping or trying to meditate. The pitter patter against the window pane, and the far off grumble of thunder has gotten me to fall asleep more times than I can count.

I am sure Erza is looking forward to the warmer weather as well. The first time it is warm enough for me to open my windows and let the air flow through, she is instantly sitting in the window sill and taking deep breaths of the fresh air and basking in the sunshine. Erza is also harness trained, so she looks for every opportunity to go outside and do some exploring, and maybe even some hunting. Sadly due to our home location, during the winter I have to tell her that it is too cold for her to be outside. “Too cold for kitty toes,” I say. She pouts and yowls her dismay that I am denying her any form of adventure or mental stimulation. Be rest assured though, them moment I deem it warm enough, and reach for her harness, she is instantly purring and helping the best she can to get the buckles clipped in and ready to go.

Spring has always been a sign of hope and renewal for many people. This idea is at the root of my fondness for the season. It stands as a very real sign that things get better, you just have to look for the signs and wait.