There’s something very sad, great and wonderful about getting older. When we’re little, all we want is for our birthday to come, it means party, cake, candy, presents, playing with friends. When we are teenagers, it means going to dinner with your friends, going out and dancing. When we are young adults it means getting together, having dinner in a nice place, drinking, dancing, reminiscing.
I remember every single one of my birthdays and they were all kind of awesome. Something always goes right. You feel the warm and love of who remembers it – and nowadays Facebook won’t let you forget it. But still. When you’re a foreigner and are celebrating your birthday somewhere that’s not your home (I know, I keep coming to this) it feels like something can be detached. You don’t have your friends, your family, your people. But every year, I figure that, your birthday, besides being just another day, can go however you want it to go. Of course all the other things are the cherry on top of the cake, but you can make it worth.
It’s sad because we only get to celebrate each birthday once, so every year, I feel like it should be celebrated. It’s great because it means you are healthy, you have people who remember you, who love you and it also makes you feel appreciated for having the opportunity to celebrate the day you were born. It’s wonderful because you get to be kind of a baby again, having people take care of you, think about you and tell or show you how they feel.
Overall, I still love my birthday and as I get older, things gain a different perspective. You start questioning if your life is where you thought it would be, if you are with the person you wanted to be, if you are going to make it – and so on, so on. I feel like crying as I write this post and I already cried four or five times since my birthday started (in Portugal and here). I hope you are having a great start of the week and we will keep on celebrating my birthday throughout the week here on I Life You.