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Facebook Wall Posts Showering Birthday Wishes

Birthdays are tricky to say the least.  When I was younger I used to count the months and finally the days to the long awaited date– November 1st.  Needless to say, as I got older, getting a year older was not something I was counting down to.  But something really changed in me when I decided to mark and celebrate my big 4-0 birthday a &@!- years ago.  I sent an invitation to 50 of my friends and the theme of the birthday party was forever 39!  In the spirit of halloween, I asked everyone to show up to my party with outfits that cost $39.99 or lower and the tag had to be on for proof.

I can’t tell you how amazing everyone looked, and while all my friends were around me when I was blowing out my giant cupcake cake, I found myself announcing, “Guess what? If 40 feels like this, then by all means, I am happy to celebrate it.” That evening I felt the love of family and friends and felt myself so lucky to have nurtured such great friendships in my life.

This year was another spectacular surprise for me….it started the day before.  Phone calls and texts started streaming in. Then on Monday I woke up and opened my face book page.  My entire wall was filled with birthday posts, messages, and birthday you tube song attachments.  And these posts kept coming in until yesterday even….500 of them! Some came from friends and family, but many posts came from my online community of friends that I share thoughts with on a daily basis.  These are people whom I have not even met personally.  But the effect was all the same.  The best part about birthdays is our allowing ourselves to feel the love and positive energy of those around us. And the most special part of this birthday was to have this realization that there are so many people out there in the world who want to spread joy and make another person’s day.

These are the realizations that make birthdays invaluable!