Happy Birthday to me?

Yes, today is my birthday.  Funny how our day once was a day to celebrate and now it is a reminder of how many years have passed.  Sometimes I feel like a got a very late start...being a good wife, friend, daughter, and sister.  If only I knew then what I know now, or more accurately if I had felt the way I do now years ago.  Confident, generous, kind, trusting, and open have come very late to me, accomplished by facing devastation and years of therapy.  I now understand why I have taken the paths I have and am so grateful that with all of my detours I have ended up here.  I thank God that I have not only been given a second chance, but a third, fourth, fifth...oh, who's counting.  And not just God, but my husband, parents, children, and friends.  There were many years I really did not see this coming - this life filled with people who care and really like me.  I know, I sound like Sally Field, but it is true.  They say you have to love yourself before others can love you, but if that were true I would have had no one.

Now, I feel differently.  And instead of dreading this day I am grateful for a renewal of spirit, an appreciation for what I have, and the opportunity to embrace and revel in each day I am given.  So.....Happy Birthday to Me.