Happy Birthday to ME!

My birthday came and went quite quickly but a few faithful friends ensure me that I get a week-long birthday and one such a friend actually sends me an e-card every day now for this week. You can't buy friends like that...

Another friend of mine was curious to know what it feels like now that I am beyond halfway through my 20's. I can honestly say that I enjoy aging. I am enjoying experiencing life. I love the fact that I see myself changing from a teenager to a young woman. And I have reveled in turning from a young "nat agter die ore" adult to a "real" adult.

Af first it was awkward and unnatural to work, pay bills, get paid and have next to nothing left afterward. It made no sense. My father wisely said one day that we seem to have life backwards: we should have all the money in our 20's when we need to establish ourselves and build home for our families to come and then when we are older and ready to retire we don't need as much money and we consequently make less of it.

But, perhaps this is the very time of our lives when the challenges of life graft us into who we are meant to be. Gaining a degree didn't assure me that I knew what I was talking about; in fact, it only reminds me that I had a blast as a student and that I managed to pass everything by the grace of God because I remember nothing from class now.

With this birthday came a little more wisdom - luckily not in the form of gray hair. I finally feel comfortable in this "adult-thing". Going to work is a challenge to be the best employee I can be. I want to feel that my boss is getting his money's worth - if not underpaying for excellent service.

I love being married. I feel immense relief that I do not have to play the dating game anymore. I never did like it to begin with. What I enjoy most about marriage is the license to be honest with each other - to both encourage and challenge each other to excellence.

So, I suppose I said all this to say that I am enjoying this aging bit and that I look forward to next year but if it's all the same I would like to be 26 long enough to know what it feels like before 27 rolls around.

Friday I will close out my birthday week with a staff luncheon at McGuire's Irish Pub with all my closest colleagues that have made an impact on my every day life and that know me a little too well by now (peril of a micro-office). I will have something delicious and then share a decadent, deathly brownie and ice cream with chocolate sauce with them. Hmm....

Here's to birthday weeks!