The more I age, the more I feel like my birthday is just another day. Not that I feel that my life is not worth celebrating but more that I don't wait for my birthday to do something nice. I feel like life should be lived every single day like it's the last moment. When I take that approach to life, I find that the little things don't seem to bother me as much -- like how my husband removes his dirty socks and leaves it in the middle of the room. I wish I could have practiced that type of mindset when I was going through all those changes that my husband was putting me through. But I digress.

I don't think I have a favorite birthday. I can say that I remember most of the parties I've had though. If I did have to choose just one though, it would probably be my 16th birthday. August 4th, 1991. I didn't have a huge birthday party. In fact, that year I didn't have a party at all. Summertime birthdays can be the pits since a lot of the time none of my friends ever remembered it. At least in high school, that's how it was. My mother let me sleep in that day. That was a rare occasion. She NEVER let me sleep in. I always had some chore to tend to whether it was making breakfast for my grandmothers or cleaning some part of the house, my mother had tons of chores for me to do.

Anyway -- by noon of my 16th birthday I had managed to get the keys to my mother's van as well as permission to go to the mall -- all by myself. Since I live way out in the country, going to the mall with the family car, all by myself was HUGE! I felt so independent. They gave me a hundred dollars and said I could do whatever I wanted with it. I ended up at Pearlridge Mall which is about an hour away from home. I bought a poster of L.L. Cool J (major crush)!! I bought Gladys Knight's Greatest Hits CD and called it day. What I loved the most is the freedom and the independence. I felt so very free!

That started the trend, for me, of treating myself on my birthday. Sometimes. Most times. I prefer to do absolutely nothing on my birthday. Social ties usually do not allow for it thus... I have a birth-week rather than a birth-day. This past birthday is an example of a birth-week.

So like I said... as I age... I don't wait for my birthday to treat myself. I do what I want, whenever I want because I deserve it. So do you!