Going Up Hill

This past weekend I climbed up a hill literally, figuratively, and emotionally. During the preceding weeks, I had been having something of a mental "quarter-century crisis" as I liked to call it and so as my birthday landed on a weekend this year, I wanted to have a big celebration of a sort to celebrate the major milestones that I have reached thus far. For some reason, my birthday has always been an emotional time for me and my enjoyed celebrations have been the few in which I have been surrounded by those that I care about the most. I can remember more than one year in which I have followed the ol' song "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to...." So while no crying on my actual day occurred this year, the transition this year did allow for a big heart-to-heart, soul-pouring-out discussion with my parents. Thank God for those parents! The ones who originally gave me life and continue to emotionally support me!

25-while no major milestone recognized by most, seems to have become a significant number for many of my generation. 25 seems to be the number in which we symbolize the following thought, "shouldn't we have our act together now?" And for the first birthday in a long time, I actually feel sort of well, older, now I suppose. However as I reflected back over the 25 years, I realized that I have accomplished a lot already and felt proud of the decisions that I have made thus far. Thus I know the next 25 are going to be absolutely incredible!

So now that we've covered the emotional and mental climb, what then you may be wondering was my physical climb? Well this year, my birthday was celebrated by a weekend with my parents, my granny, and myself staying at the family beach house up the coast. On Saturday my in-state siblings and their families came over and spent the day with us as well. However even with a large group of people, the day was able to be spent in alignment with my simplistic values.

I woke up early on my birthday and took a peaceful, solitary morning walk on the beach before everyone else arrived, during which I found two sand dollars (which I've taken to be a continual spiritual sign that my life is how it should be as I've found sand dollars the last 4 times). It took my siblings a while to arrive due to road delays, but then after we all had been fed lunch, we headed down to the beach. At this location there is a cape that is about 250 feet tall and while originally not intended, all of us, minus Mom, managed to climb to the top of the cape together. The years have changed it but the view remains ever gorgeous. However the fact that we all were up there together made it even more incredible and special.

After the beach, we had pizzas, cake, and granny-home-made blueberry pie. Good conversation, some California wine, and then Aunt Liz got to enjoy a couple rounds of Twister with the nephew! Dad and I took the younger two nephews on a sand dollar hunt, and while I got a bit wet, I was glad to be able to find a sand dollar for each of them (and have the opportunity to "teach" a tiny bit about the ecosystem-I'm fine with being a nerd). The rest of the crew all headed out and I finally took Granny down for a walk on the beach just with her. After sitting out on the porch with Dad in the final stages of evening, I finally agreed to open the few presents that had been brought after I showered off the four beach trips. How grateful I was that the majority of my family followed my wishes in recognizing that THEY were my presents and the few presents that were brought were completely useful and productive. While the clouds and fog ended up covering the evening meteor shower, I couldn't help but think as I climbed into bed, "God what an absolutely simple, full, and incredible day!" I feel most blessed....