Birthday Thoughts

Well...it's official. I am now an adult. I started off my birthday yesterday by becoming an adult and getting a job! I'm pretty excited about it all. I've never had a job before where I got to give it my 100% best effort because it was never my top priority. Before now school has always taken precedence to just about everything else in life but I can actually start my career and focus on that for a while.

My family and friends made yesterday the most wonderful birthday. My Mom is so great and does everything she can each year to make sure our birthdays are special experiences. She made me crepes for breakfast and then took us to Color Me Mine where we each selected a pottery piece to paint. I chose a chip/dip square dish. I'm so excited to see the finished product in a few days!

Some of my friends came over in the evening to celebrate with us. We had a delicious grilled steak dinner and lavished ourselves with yummy cheesecake (thanks Sarah and Hillary!) and carrot cake. I've decided that the only thing needed to make a birthday great is to be with the people you love. And I LOVE the people who were with me yesterday.

For my birthday I received several new items to help me with a new goal I've acquired...the half marathon in October!!! Am I crazy--perhaps!? My good friend Aishe and I will be running it together. She's amazing and helps push me to keep going with the goal. And now I have a watch to tell me everything I could possibly need to know to get me from start to finish. I didn't even know such things existed! (Thanks Mom and Dad!)

It's when I spend a day surrounded by my family and close friends that I realize just how blessed and loved I really am. Late last night I watched the movie The Blind Side with a friend and as I saw the hard things the main character had experienced in his life-mostly all of which were the results of the poor decisions others had made--I reflected on just how great life really is for me. I've never had to wonder if anyone loved me or cared about my well-being because I've always had parents who did everything they could to show their love. I've never had to hope to find a warm, dry place to sleep at night. I have always always had people in my life who believed in me and my abilities to accomplish anything I wanted. How does it work out that I was born into a home filled with love and so many others will never experience true, unconditional love? I don't know. I can't explain it but I do know I AM BLESSED!

Thanks everyone for making this a very memorable 23rd (haha) birthday!!!