Thursday, June 30, 2011

To Celebrate or not to Celebrate, That is my Question.

Birthdays have been to the forefront of my mind lately. Between the 18th of June and 18th July we have six family birthdays totalling 327 years. Last January when life was calm, I decided we should have a party to celebrate before I leave for Bodrum.

When I was young, birthdays were red letter days. My parents loved to celebrate birthdays, Christmas, anniversaries. I have brought this love of celebration with me from childhood to present day.

Hubbie is the complete opposite. He is very practical. Birthdays are just another day. Valentine's Day, Mother's Day Father's Day, money making rackets created by Hallmark!

I love to buy small surprises that will bring a smile to my family and friends faces, a bookmark that lists the 100 best books or a blanket printed with childhood photos, an appropriate charm for a bracelet, a photobook of memories. Unfortunately, Hubbie has not grasped this concept. I have been sent to buy my own prezzies. Gifts I have bought for him lie unloved and unused. The only time I nearly got it right was when I bought him a small keyring torch for Christmas. He found it a week beforehand and stole it. It was the best Christmas present he  was not given!

Over the years I have adjusted. What is the point in arranging a party that is not wanted, buying a present that is left to gather dust. I've learned that if I want a present I better a) tell him what I want or b) buy it myself. Forget surprise!

But a few years ago I became fifty. I got stroppy. No more compromises. Fine if he does not want to celebrate but I sure do. Hence this years party. However this post is not about the party. it's about my birthday. This year I finally had my red letter day.

 07.00  Metin had sent me a text to wish me a happy birthday - he keeps forgetting the 2 hour time difference!

07.30 A text from my brothers girlfriend. She is also my physiotherapist, the encroaching years have brought a variety of aches and pains. She hoped she hadn't woken me

07.35 I opened Facebook, and was chuffed to discover friends from Australia, Switzerland, Africa, Turkey  and of course a few locals had all left messages to wish me a happy birthday. Added to these were birthday wishes from my blogger friends, again located all around the globe. Also good wishes were rolling in from people on the Turkish Living Forum of which I'm a member. I know that Facebook reminds friends of birthdays but it is heartwarming that some I have not seen for a year, some I have not yet met and others I was only talking to last night, would take the time to stop by and wish me happy birthday.

08.00  had a chat with a relatively new cyber friend, living close to Paris.

08.30 I got up with a warm fuzzy feeling.

08.40 arrived in the kitchen, there were flowers on the table and three balloons with faces to represent my three missing daughters. It brought a smile to my face. There lat"super large cranium."

My Mum gave me a "Willow Tree" figure. It is called "Free Spirit- dances through life with laughter" Oh my, someone knows me and what makes me tick.


My birthday card speaks for itself. It contained a voucher towards camera lessons. Joanne said it was an investment in her wedding photographer, I showed it to her boyfriend tonight. A bad move, we almost had to drive him to hospital. It's a good job I did a CPR course a number of years ago.

The card also contained a new fridge magnet. I was told this was to be my mantra for the next few days. Believe me I needed it.

I then received a croissant with a single birthday candle. Do they think I'm so old now I'm out of puff?

Wow, it was only 09.00 a.m. but I have had the best birthday celebration in many a long year. To those of you who contributed to making my day, a big, big, cyber hug.

 And of course "THE CONCERT" was a smash hit. How could it have gone wrong today? Why did I worry?

How do you feel about birthdays? Are they just another day, are they something to be passed over quickly with the passing years or do you like to celebrate?

10 comments:

  1. Oh Mary, I'm so happy that you had a blast this year. You deserve to get what you want! I LOVE birthdays, but not necessarily big surprises. But I do like fussing over my birthday, going out with close friends, receiving gifts, opening them, the works! The best part is when I get a card from my hubby with a touching message from him. For me, I could ignore V-day, New Year's, etc, but Birthdays and Christmas are biggies for me :-))

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  2. I used to like fussing over my birthday a lot more than I do now. My in laws have made birthdays something to dread more than celebrate. But like you Mary I do love to find that special little trinket for someone, something special that they didn't know they wanted and end up loving. =)

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  3. Birthdays are the best - especially considering the alternative.

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  4. I LOVE birthdays. I always make sure I have the day off work and do whatever I want. I also love other peoples birthdays. I love shopping for their birthday cards. Im incredibly picky and put way too much thought into it, but I like the card to mean something and match the person. That probably stems from me collecting all of my cards from when I was little to now.

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  5. Birthdays may just be another day, but if you can't take the time for one 'me time' day a year then there's something sadly wrong!

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  6. Mary,
    What a fun birthday and all before 9 a.m. Hope the rest of the day was as good. You see, even as we keep getting older, birthdays keep getting better. Wish you a happy belated birthday.

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  7. Glad to know I'm not the only one who likes to celebrate birthdays. I was beginning to think I was unreasonable.

    Joy, you're lucky hubby buys you a card. Mine thinks cards are a money making racket.

    Lalia, What a lovely way of expressing it " I do love to find that special little trinket for someone, something special that they didn't know they wanted and end up loving. =)" that's just how I feel about it.

    I agree Thom, my colleagues Granny was 100 a few weeks ago. What a thing to celebrate.

    Janine, how wonderful to be able to take your birthday off every year. That in itself is a celebration. If it is a weekday I have to work and end of school year is always my busiest time.

    Lucy, my problem is I don't want my birthday to be "me" time I would love it to be "family" time. Well part of the day anyway. I want the whole shebang:-)

    Penelope, when a day gets off to a good start it's hard to see how it can go wrong. The mindset copes better with any difficulties.

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  8. Happy (late) birthday Mary! I like celebrating my birthday but I don't like telling everybody my age. So I decided to knock off 10 years. Some people actually believe my pretend-age (28). Bless them.

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  9. Hi Mary -

    It sounds like you had a wonderful birthday Mary and BTW....happy birthday. I love the card photo of my 3 ex-girlfriends. The words have special and accurate meaning. Don't go and take life too seriously, meaning...don't sweat the small things Mary. :)

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  10. Hi, Mary! I'm glad you've taken your birthday back! You definitely did the right thing. You and your husband's philosophies can co-exist! :-)

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