There’s nothing that screams grown-up birthday celebration quite like flaming fireworks shooting out of a Nothing Bundt Cake inside a swanky restaurant. That was certainly the case at our recent gathering to celebrate my beautiful friend Britney. She’s a friend who loves to celebrate special moments for all of us, which makes it all the more fun to celebrate her. Give her a reason to celebrate, and she’ll radiate pure joy and sunshine (or flaming sparklers as the case may be).
But for many of us, celebrating adult birthdays can easily get lost by the wayside.
Time is moving so fast, and because we often wish it wasn’t, we’d rather sweep the birthdays under the proverbial rug, and pretend they didn’t happen. We’re so busy with all our adult responsibilities that it seems trivial, if not wasteful, to stop to celebrate a date on the calendar that only points to the inevitable fact, that we’re mostly trying to ignore. We shhhh our friends, with jokes about never asking a lady her age and carry on with business as usual. But when we do, we’re missing the chance to become more whole, more wise, and more loving.
Aging is not lost youth, it’s a celebration of who you have become.
Every year, when that special day rolls around again, if you take a moment to look back, you can clearly see the experiences that made you. Sometimes it’s the goals you accomplished or the milestones you crossed. But even when it’s been a year of struggle or difficulty, those things made you stronger and that’s something to celebrate. The annual cadence of birthdays builds in a natural moment for pause, to reflect and celebrate.
It’s not about the number. It’s about the becoming.
As we enter into the birthday month of the HeartStories GNO, and we’re fast at work tying up all the exciting details for the True Colors Birthday Bingo Bash, it would be easy for me to only think about how far we have to yet to go. It’s easy for me to look back and wish I was wiser along the way and had made perfect decisions at every turn. But this year especially, I’m choosing instead to celebrate how far we’ve come. I’m choosing to intentionally look back at the milestones, AND the challenges.
I’m choosing to celebrate who we’ve become on this journey together.
Whether it’s your birthday month or not, will you join me in focusing on the wisdom you’ve gleaned from this past year?
Who are you becoming as a result?
“Wrinkles mean you laughed. Gray hairs mean you cared. Scares mean you lived.” ~ author unknown
Laugh. Care. Live.
It’s not about the number.
to more love,
Crystal
P.S. If you’ve ever wondered if GNO is for you, this is a great month to try it out. It’s an easy and fun night of lively color, bingo and fun. Come celebrate with us! Get your ticket here.
