It’s my birthday today. I have always been teased about how much I love my birthday. It is actually quite silly. It is not the "hoopla" or the birthday gifts or cake, (that seem to wane as you get older and become a mother) that I love about my birthday.

                         It is just ---something.

   I know that the night before each of my own children's birthdays are tender moments for me. Two old friends, Nostalgia and Reverie, find me each year and grab hold of my heart. Birthdays fill me with a quiet sadness about life. Birthdays serve as a reminder that life marches forward -- and sometimes it feels like it is sprinting. I am also reminded that each beautiful year will be filled with both new adventures and difficult challenges.

    I think of how amazing it was to have been able to create and grow these little munchkins. Raising four children is one of the most rewarding and most difficult things my husband and I have ever attempted to do! Funny thing is, right now -- for my children - growing will be the most rewarding and toughest thing that they will have to do! (My mouth to God's ears.)

    Anyways,  I would like to think that the universe knows it is my birthday.  That secretly the winds whispered my name to the birds -- who just so happened to share their melodious celebratory happy birthday song with me as I awoke this morning. I would like to believe that the good Lord sends celestial blessings to surround me today with joy and laughter – a reward for having embraced another year on this journey I am on. I picture shooting stars gliding over my parent's home tonight (just prior to midnight) to signify that all is well and as it should be. Ridiculous, isn't it?

I must blame my parents. It is all their fault that I have this insane perception. A belief that I was so uniquely amazing that magic happens each year on my birthday… ;)

Crazy -- Really.

Maybe, I too will be accused of such things one day. My birthday wish this year is a hope that I can pass this beautiful insanity on to my own…..