High Expectations

The older I get, the more I realize my expectations for things might be a little high. I tend to disappoint myself way too much by doing that.  Last month I turned 31. Yep. I'm old.  But i'm perfectly happy about it.

The thing that stinks is that birthdays don't seem like a big deal as it did when I was a kid, or teenager for that matter. Every year I end up disappointed with the fact that I am the only one that's REALLY excited about my birthday. Birthdays as an adult are kind of lame. Anyone else feel this way?  

Part of it is that when we were growing up, my mom went CRAZY on birthdays. We woke up to signs and balloons all over the house. We had what was called a 'Birthday Week'. This included the following:

favorite meals throughout the week

no chores for that week

shotgun everywhere we went (front seat in the car for those of you unfamiliar with the term)

favorite half gallon of ice cream 

favorite box of cereal (my mom never bought the sugar kind so that was exciting)

favorite activities throughout the week

etc.

Yeah, it was pretty sweet. We also had MILESTONE birthdays. So, on the bigger birthdays, there was something special like when we turned 8, 12, 16, 18.  

My brother Jared's birthday is on December 26th and I remember my mom wanting to make his day separate from Christmas so every year, she would stay up so late to take down most of the Christmas decorations and replace it with birthday stuff. I was always amazed the next morning to wake up to a complete transformation. For those of you who don't know my mom, you can see pictures here. She is the Christmas Nazi and goes CRAZY with decorating at Christmastime, so this was quite the transformation and dedication. 

My brother Damon and I have birthdays 3 days apart and she would make sure that our birthdays didn't mix so we had our OWN birthday and our OWN birthday week. She was amazing.

                                (don't make fun... this was my total 'ugly stage' in life)

You don't realize these things when you are younger, but when you are older, you suddenly see more clearly the sacrifices your parents made to make you happy and show you love. Thinking back on all those years with great birthdays, it makes me grateful to a mom who worked so hard to show us we were special.

Now, as an adult, I am grateful more than ever. And disappointed a little too, for the high expectations I have for my birthday and the disappointment that follows year after year. It's all part of growing up, I guess. And, i'm sure my mom's birthdays weren't anything exciting when we were growing up. 

The good news is that I can extend my energy to make my girls feel as special on THEIR day as my mom did on ours. 

So, thanks mom, for making such special memories from our childhood. They are remembered and they are definitely appreciated.