19/07/24
listening to: howlin' for you - the black keys
well, this year's birthday celebrations were so extravagant i'm almost embarrassed about it. so many different people called and wrote with wishes, including some i've given up on hearing from ever again. i hope this means we get to rekindle our connections.
i'm going to think about this luxurious birthday as the universe's recompense for all the shitty ones. when i was a kid it had always been a family affair, an opportunity for the adults to sit around and get drunk (and of course it was ever so rude of me to leave the table and do my own stuff! i was the birthday boy, after all). having a birthday in the summer meant no school friends ever knew of it or cared about it, away on their holidays. no candy for them, or a useful interruption in lessons for the day. then when i was older the classic "nobody came to my party" experiences... gifts that were so off-base i'd prefer to get nothing at all, rather than the reminder of being so completely not-known, un-seen by those close to me. but mostly just some money - not bad, i admit! but never felt very celebratory.
well, this year i did feel known and cherished. there were things from a wishlist, things completely original, and also gifts from myself to myself. i want to be happy about them, and so i will share:
also this birthday marked a personal-growth milestone. i'd indicated that i'd like to be celebrated, and voila - i was. the gifts kept coming since the beginning of the month, each one good enough to count as The Big Gift, and yet - a whole array! day of, we broke out the fondue (might actually be too old to manage so much chocolate in one go...) and partner took some time off. and we're going for a little holiday. it's possible! it does happen, not only in american movies. i love my little life! i can only hope that the year will follow in-kind.