It's been a few days since I've written a blog column. Four to be exact. No, I wasn't sick. Nothing terrible happened. In fact, it was quite the opposite. I had a birthday weekend. For real. Aside from Saturday, my actual birthday, I didn't plan a thing.
It all started a couple of weeks ago. I mentioned to Lisa that I had a surprise for her on Saturday, December 8th, my birthday. The conversation didn't exactly go as smoothly as I had planned.
Why?
Because Lisa already had something planned for my birthday.
A surprise party.
I was quite surprised at her admission.
Trust me, her admission didn't come easy. I was persistent. So was she.
However, despite my surprise and being completely overwhelmed by her gesture, in a good way, I told her that I could not cancel her surprise.
We battled it out for a few days, but when I told her that I absolutely could not and did not want to cancel my surprise for her, she caved.
I felt guilty, but I knew my surprise would make up for that.
And it totally did.
When Lisa let our neighbor friends know of the update, a couple of them piped up.
"We want to do something for Lisa. She's always doing stuff for everyone else."
Long story short, on Friday, December 7th, a couple of our neighborhood friends-who-have-become-family were adamant about having us over to celebrate my birthday. On Sunday, December 9th, same thing.
Between those 2 days, Saturday, I had my surprise planned for Lisa.
I officially had a birthday weekend.
As it got closer to my birthday weekend, I was excited. But, I also felt weird.
I tried describing that feeling to Lisa and a dear friend of ours, but it came out jumbled.
In the past, I've never had a birthday weekend.
Usually for my birthday, I keep it low-key. An evening at home with Lisa and the kids.
Last year, I dedicated my birthday to spreading Holiday Love and Cheer. We hosted a holiday party at our home. Unfortunately, we got a winter storm that day so only our neighbor friends and 1 other attended. We had a great time.
This year was extremely different and that contributed a lot to my decision to unplug most of the time and just be in the moment and not resist.
I'm glad I did.
Because in doing so, I learned a lot.
On one big end of the spectrum, I felt loved and appreciated. Our neighbor friends who have become family took the time and effort to make me feel rather incredible. More so, in the time I spent with them, I was reminded why these people have become family to us.
On Saturday, I got to meet an incredible lady who has been friends with Lisa since the Middle School. It all started with a picture Lisa drew and gave her in the 6th grade. She presented that picture to Lisa on Saturday. Framed.
Lisa hasn't seen her in over 10 years.
That was Lisa's surprise. Her friend showed up. Lisa thought I had invited a couple of neighbor friends over.
And, she also brought the best cupcakes I've ever had in my entire life.
On the much smaller end of the spectrum, well...let's just say we'll be making a few more additional changes in 2019.
I am beyond grateful this year. For so many reasons. I couldn't have asked for a better birthday. Amid all of the celebratory moments, we had a lot of time together as a family. Lisa. Our kids. Me. Lisa surprised me with having today off. Which, me and the kids absolutely loved.
Turing 45 wasn't so bad.
The midway point between 40 and 50.
It was rather great.
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