Why Birthdays Mean Everything To Me 🎈

Today I turn 51. Fifty-one trips around the sun. As I sit here reflecting on what this day means to me, I can't help but smile at how much I love birthdays - not just mine, but everyone's who matters to me.

Anyone who knows me knows I go all out for birthdays. But they might not know why.

When I was a kid, birthdays were complicated. My mom would cook amazing food and bake me beautiful homemade cakes, but the celebrations were always shadowed by my father's unpredictable behavior. My friends and cousins rarely wanted to come over - not because they didn't care about me, but because no one knew if my dad would be in one of his "good" moods or if he'd spend the day throwing insults at me and my mom, thinking somehow this was his version of family fun. I don’t have a single memory of a Birthday for the first 18 years of my life.

I still remember the knot in my stomach each year, hoping that maybe this birthday would be different. That maybe I could just enjoy being celebrated without walking on eggshells. I would go to my friends Birthday parties and look around at all the happiness and celebrations in owe, so this is what it’s supposed to feel like.

So when I finally left home at 18, I made a promise to myself: I would celebrate ME on my birthday, making up for all those years I couldn't. But something unexpected happened along the way. My love for birthdays evolved from wanting to honor myself to wanting to honor everyone in my life.

If you're in my circle, you know that on your birthday, I will move mountains to make you feel special. Remember that guy I dated for just a month? When his 52nd birthday came around, I bought a cooler, filled it with 52 Blue Moon beers (getting the "once in a blue moon" joke), added balloons for extra wow factor, and drove it to his house so he'd find it after work. He called to tell me he didn't even like beer but thanked me anyway. Too much? Maybe. But that's how I show love and it was his Birthday! LOL

For my kids, I've created traditions that I hope will stay with them forever. Since they were little, I've woken them up with balloons on their birthday morning, singing Happy Birthday and making sure they feel extraordinarily loved from the moment they open their eyes. Even when they're not home - like when my youngest daughter was vacationing on her 21st birthday, and I rallied the entire hotel staff to bring her balloons so our tradition wouldn't be broken.

But why? Why do birthdays matter so much to me? Today, on my 51st birthday, this is what I can share with you at to my why:

We choose to come here, to this life, for a reason. We choose our families and our mothers. That's an incredible miracle if you pause to think about it.

A birthday honors one of the most wondrous acts of nature - a woman giving birth after carrying another human being inside her for nine months. So it's as much a day to celebrate me as it is to celebrate my mom.

We get one day a year that summarizes the prior year for us, and it's not December 31st - it's our birthday. What have we done with our time these past 12 months? Are we getting closer to fulfilling why we came here? As we approach our eventual "graduation day" from this life, are we making our time count? Are we loving hard, giving hard, living hard so we can look back with pride?

We get one day to show up for others better than any other day of the year. And honestly, what feels better than giving love and making people feel special? I'm addicted to that feeling.

We get one day to honor crossing paths with each person in our lives. If you believe, like I do, that everyone we meet, we meet for a reason, then how beautiful it is to be grateful that another soul was put on your path. Why not tell them that on the anniversary of their arrival?

Birthdays remind us that we're still here, still breathing, still experiencing this wild, beautiful, sometimes painful, often wonderful life. They're a chance to say: I see you. I'm glad you were born. Your existence matters.

Maybe my love for birthdays started as a reaction to my childhood, but it's grown into something much more meaningful. It's become a way of honoring life itself - the miracle of it, the fragility of it, the joy of it.

So today, on my birthday, I celebrate not just myself, but everyone who's been part of my journey. I celebrate the chance to keep living, loving, and making others feel as special as they truly are.

And yes, there will be balloons. There will always be balloons. 🎈💫

With all my love on this special day

S~