Birthday Season!

The end of the year and beginning of the next is birthday season around here.  We start in December and go through the beginning of February.  For my immediate family, three of my children and my son-in-law all have birthdays, with Meghan's just before Christmas on the 20th, her uncle David's is the 22nd, my son-in-law Bill's is December 26th, son Jeffrey's is January 3, and Katie's is tomorrow, January 6th (and after all this, my wallet is pretty much depleted, though happily!).  In and around those days are birthdays of friends and extended family (Happy birthday Bri - yesterday - and HBD to Tina, today, and to Kristin soon-to-be-Bishop!).  Katie shares her birthday with her cousin Gordie, and it's also the birthday of my friend Phyllis.  It's hard to keep track of all these birthdays.  Facebook is a lifesaver in that regard.  I love the reliable reminders that pop up to make sure I don't miss an important birthday.  I often wonder whether I should keep my fb page active, but then I realize there's a lot I'd miss about people I care about (plus, it's the main way I advertise new posts on this blog).  So, Happy Birthday to everyone, but especially to my daughter Katie tomorrow.

It's hard to believe my kids are soooo grown  up, the youngest about to leave her twenties behind in April.  It's so strange to know that it's been three decades since my baby was a baby!  My dad used to say, "Sister, the older you get, the faster time flies."  I could never have known then how many times those words would have rung in my ears, unfolding like a prophecy before me.  His words are so true.  I look back 30 years and remember when I was a young mom in my late 20s. It seems like a lifetime ago, and at the same time seems like five minutes ago...  How is that?   I look forward and wonder what the next decades will bring to my life, and my children's lives, and how fast it will pass.  I don't really like to think about it going by in a flash.  I better stop and smell the roses, and build in some more fun and great times with my favorite people!  Every now and then I hear a snippet of wisdom on the radio, and one day I heard John Tesh say that, when surveyed, most respondents said that the best things to accumulate in life were memories of good times with the people you love and not money, not prestige, not that great job or beautiful home --  but memories of TIME spent with people you love -- dinners, vacations, weekends.  I love that.

For Katie's birthday tomorrow, Henry will be making a memory of helping to decorate his mommy's birthday cake (his choice - a snowman cake).  My wish for Katie is a wealth of memories of happy times with the people she loves, and an awareness that, even at her youthful age, time will fly and that every moment counts.  I hope that those precious moments with her little boys will be etched in her memory forever.  I try, each day, to excavate a memory of my own children's early years, and sometimes it takes a little work, but those moments are there, forever, and bring me joy.

Happy birthday, my beautiful daughter.

Photo image:  http://www.discountcandleshop.com/images/sans/513624.jpg