This is a tale of two birthdays.

We have a friend who celebrated a non-milestone birthday last fall. She’d had a rough year, physically and emotionally, and she decided that the best way to move on was to have a big birthday bash. So she invited friends from around the country, as well as local friends, and they ate well, and danced hard, and sang loud, and played silly party games. Most importantly, she told them all how much joy they brought to her life, and they told her about the joy she brought to their lives.

We know a young woman who is celebrating her 24th birthday tomorrow (Happy Birthday E!). She’s treating this birthday as a milestone – it’s the kickoff for her “countdown to the golden birthday” year. She is taking the entire year to celebrate her life, and she’s let her friends and family know all about it, and asking them to join her in a variety of parties and events through the coming year.

Celebrate your own life, and the lives of the people you love, today and every day.

• Talk about the joy you bring to each other’s lives.
• Plan a fun event for your friends to join you in feeling good about life – maybe a spa day, maybe a picnic, maybe a boat ride, maybe a weekend away.
• Pick a theme song that celebrates your life, and play it each morning.
• Light a special candle to remind you of your light in the world.
• Collect stories and photos about your life in a journal.
• Cook your favorite meal every month on your birthdate.

You are special. Celebrate that.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 24th, 2010 at 2:56 am and is filed under Food for Thought, Gusto and attitude. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.