There are years that ask questions and years that answer. ~Zora Neale Hurston

Birthdays are funny things.  They come once a year on the same day but somehow mine tends to sneak up on me.  Most of it is probably the time of year.  But part of it is that I am indecisive when it come to making a decision on what I want to do for my birthday.  Growing up we were not a family that made lists of gifts that you wanted.  There was a party for the birthday person but I had more than a few birthdays when I was younger that we had just moved to a new town during the summer and there wasn't really anyone to invite to a party.  Birthdays just weren't a huge deal.

I remember the first birthday I had that was a huge deal.  It was my first year as an resident assistant in the dorms at UM.  I had left for school that August knowing it was probably going to be my last summer home.  (I was right.  My family moved and there wasn't really a "home" to go home to.)  I was excited and nervous all at the same time because I was leaving the comfort of having a high school friend as a roommate and was really for the first time, branching out on my own.  The last few weeks of August of 1996 were spent working and playing with people that, at the time, I had no way of knowing would become such an important part of my life.

My birthday came over Labor Day weekend that year, as it often does.  I didn't have a lot of expectations for my birthday.  School had started the week before and life was crazy.  I was spending most of my time with people that I had only know for a few weeks and they were just as busy as I was.  But then there was such a sweet card and cake that compared me to Snow White (which gives you a little idea of how ridiculously innocent they all thought I was...which was pretty much true).  They sang Happy Birthday to me there were hugs all around.  It seems like just a normal kind of birthday celebration as I type it out; I can't even find the words to describe how special I felt that day.

Here I am, 16 years after that birthday, married to the man that held the cake up for me to blow the candles out on the day.  I have a picture of the two of us, probably the first one, and we look so young.  A lot has happened in those 16 years.  A lot of life.  A lot of happiness.  Some hard things but none that I had to do by myself.

I think it is a natural think to reflect on the past year on your birthday.  Did the year turn out like you thought it would?  Are you a better person than you were 365 days ago?  Do you have any regrets? What are you most proud of?   I also think that for most people those answers are a bit of a mixed bag.  I know they are for me.

I woke up early this morning, mostly because of the snoring dog.  I started to think about the answers to all those questions and decided to come and write.  But then, just a bit ago, Taelin woke up and started singing my name.    I went to go get her and she announced that since it was my birthday I needed something on my head.  So here I sit now, with a plastic tiara on my head needing to wrap this post up before I really wanted to.  How did I get so lucky?

Here is to the start of the next year!