Today is my 37th birthday. I dreaded this morning, but not because I knew I would be another year older, but because I knew there would be no “Happy Birthday” sung to me on the phone by my sister, Brandi. This is the third birthday that I have had without her and I don’t think it will matter if it has been a hundred, missing a loved one and the traditions that you share with them are difficult when they don’t exist any more.
I was set on spending most of the day alone once I sent my kids off to school, but a very good friend of mine wouldn’t take no for an answer and told me that it’s my birthday and I shouldn’t be alone, we should go out and celebrate. We had fun as we always do when we are together. We had lunch out, didn’t eat much of my burger there was a lot of pink in my requested well done patty, but I chowed down on my sweet potato fries. We walked around in the rain, ducking into shops along the way, then heading to the bakery to pick up cupcakes only to find that they aren’t open on Tuesdays. I had decided that I wasn’t going to eat cake even though it was my birthday, but with a little coaxing from a few close and some little folks I decided that having something for my birthday wasn’t a bad thing.
I didn’t make it to spin class or the pool. My husband’s laptop bag fell on ankle with two heavy laptops in it and busted a blood vessel. It is fine now, but it hurt enough that I loudly let an F bomb escape my lips. I did a mile of “Walk Away The Pounds”. Anything is better than nothing is my motto (well, at least most of the time).
I ate cookies and a slice of ice cream cake, but now it’s out of my system, so I am back to my no processed sugar kick. I do wonder if tomorrow I start back as No Sugar Day One or is that No Sugar Day Three With One Slip Up?
I’m off to Body Pump class again in the morning. I hope that I will be able to move freely, Thursday.
Aging is something that I have been thinking about most of the day obviously with said birthday here and the thing that I feel really good about is that I am thirty-seven and more athletic than I have ever been in my life. That is the best gift that I can give myself and my sister has given me a gift by teaching me to take every day at a time and to make the best of every day and moment, so happy birthday to me!