I remember how exciting it was when I was young to have a birthday. When my brother, sister and I were children we would always have at least two celebrations for our birthdays: a party on a Saturday afternoon for our friends and a party Saturday evening for our extended family. Looking back I don’t know how my mother did it … parties are a lot of work and to have two in one day … geez. That’s probably why my children only had family parties and on milestone birthdays they would have parties with their friends. Our birthday parties however were always a great time!
If we were lucky and our birthdays fell on a weekday, we could have end up having a total of three or four birthday celebrations which included a school party and a small party at home with our immediate family. My grandmother always made our birthday cakes for our parties which extra special. She had a lot of experience baking since her brother did have a bakery in Charleroi, PA. We of course got to pick the type of cake and request the color of the icing. Here are some pictures from my birthdays growing up.
3rd 
4th 
5th
Once we older the birthday celebrations would be smaller and usually would only be our immediate family. Eventually, we would then start going to the restaurant of our choice for a birthday dinner. If we were lucky we could even bring a friend. I do remember having a Sweet 16 birthday party which was probably my last big birthday party with friends. While I liked having parties, when it came time to sing the birthday song and blowout the candles I disliked that part with a passion. I didn’t like all eyes being on me and usually put my head down while everyone sang. I was very happy but hated the attention.
A special thing about my birthday is that my Dad’s birthday is the day before mine. When I was young my parents always made my birthday all about me but as I got older we have always celebrated our birthdays together with our family. We do however each get our own cake. He always teases me that I just had to have my own birthday and I always say that I was the best birthday present he almost received.
Over the last thirty-three years I have also been able to celebrate my birthdays with my bestie … Hubby’s birthday is about two weeks after mine but we usually celebrate our birthdays with our families the same time.
40th 
50th
Today is another “milestone” birthday for me. It’s not a birthday that you can find a card for in the card store but it is one that starts the downhill ride to the next numerical birthday card on the card store shelf. While I still want to celebrate each birthday, it is not the same as when we were little. Now birthdays are not about the presents and the cake but more of a reflection on where I am in life and what is to come. I’m not going to lie, each year gets a little more difficult because I know that each day becomes just a little more precious. Over the past five years I have been looking at my birthdays as new beginnings. I found this quote and thought it was reflective of the way that I now view birthdays ….
Today is my new beginning … again! Let’s see where this one takes me! ~K
