BIRTHDAY BUBBLES
"Not to burst your bubble, but the really frightening thing about middle age is the knowledge that you will grow out of it." ~ Anonymous
I celebrated my birthday recently. Well, maybe not so much “celebrated,” as “acknowledged.” It came. I noticed. It went.
This is not a complaint. I received birthday wishes from much loved friends and my super son, who never forgets, but I am at the stage of life where I am happy just to be here. Every day is a gift in and of itself.
I suppose that is the mature attitude. After all, I am a grown-up. Still, I am nostalgic about a celebration, face-to-face with family and friends, and ice cream and cake and blowing out candles while making a wish that you can’t tell anyone or it will never come true.
Today’s poem is a bit about that.
BUBBLES
When did my birthday
change
from a day
celebrated with fancy
gifts like diamond earrings,
homemade yellow cake with
chocolate frosting
glittering candles
and Baskin-Robbins chocolate chip
to a day when
my greatest excitement
comes from gratitude
to simply be alive and
still have my wits about me?
I recall anticipation
and excitement bubbling
all around
the build-up to
my “special day,”
but at
some point
some time
something
changed.
Plans changed from
a month-long preparation
for
a month-long celebration
with dinners out
and drinks with friends
brunches and lunches with
gift bags and champagne bubbles
to text bubbles
and
gifs
and gift cards
and
let’s get take-out
because I don’t want to go out.
I recall looking forward
to meeting up
in special places
to see special faces
for traditional
birthday celebrations ~
Ruth’s Chris
and
Marmalade Cafe
and
Jinky’s
with family
and forever friends
those days before
before
excuses trumped effort and
geography precluded
face-to-face
except maybe
on
FaceTime
for
a few minutes
where I spend
most of the time
looking at myself
in that little square bubble
in the upper corner
wondering
what happened
to
me
to the girl
with perfect skin.
Happy birthday. Probably belated. But how joyful it is to just be and celebrate another day, because that is a Tuesday.