Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Birthdays and Gratitude

These pictures were taken a year ago. It was an amazing birthday. I was hitting a milestone and I went to Italy to kick of the celebration. The trip was incredible and I came back and celebrated with all my girlfriends, my sister and my Mom ... I had no idea what was in store for me.

I frankly have never been so grateful and relieved to make it to another birthday. Like a lot of people, I had a tough year. It really all started with an emergency surgery on Christmas morning and led to a rather long drawn out physical saga (I am much better now!) ... What I had around me though, was so much love and so many beautiful memories to help carry me through.  


At my birthday celebration, my sister Penny gave me an amazing silver charm bracelet she had made. Then each one of my lovely friends gave me a charm that represented a memory or symbol of our friendship.  A VW Bug charm for the car we all drove around in in high school ... a sleeping bag from my friend who's family we used to camp with at the beach every year ... a Buddha from my friend who came with me to Thailand ... When I was sick, I would close my eyes and remember, going around the room and hearing all the stories again, seeing the beautiful faces of my friends.  What a gift. I was and I am, truly blessed.


"Wake at dawn with a winged heart
and give thanks for another day of loving."
~Kahlil Gibran


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