Unexpected gifts
By celebrating ourselves we permit others to do the same…and an announcement!
When I was little, I started planning my April birthday party as soon as the old year turned into the new. I made a guest list (eight girls), planned the menu (pizza, cake), and arranged the entertainment (Red Light Green Light; Truth or Dare). I could not contain my excitement counting down to my big day.
Now a mid-life birthday with no zero at the end is days away and I haven’t made a plan for what I’d like to do. I do not have the burning fire to celebrate myself. When my family sweetly asks what I would like to do for my birthday, I draw a blank.
I do not think I am alone in this experience, so I have been trying to understand what is behind this reticence to make a big (or even a little) deal about a birthday.
It may stem from not wanting to draw attention to ourselves (though that isn’t usually my problem. I mean, you are reading this right now.)
It may stem from not wanting to ask others to go out of their way for us, though we gladly jump to do for others all the time.
It may be indecisiveness — by choosing how to celebrate you eliminate all other possibilities, and maybe other ideas would be better, more fun for everyone else.
