Happy Birthday to Me

I sang a little birthday song to myself over my little piece of cake, sans candle, and enjoyed my birthday treat with a small cup of cappucino.

Today, at 10:26 A.M. I completed my 25th year on the planet. As I sit here taking a brief stock of my life, I find joy and happiness and optimism. Living alone is good. I'm happy with my current career path and development. Some days I feel like a failure as teacher, yet I know I continue to grow as an educator in and out of the classroom. I don't feel lonely. I do miss my family being so far away, spread between three different time zones. Thanks to a push from Dan for the writing group, I am reviving my dormant writing ability and throwing myself into a new story. Tonight I found the zone for the first time in several months, to the tune of 2,400 words, and it was good. My passion for other culutures is peaking with all these books on Africa the library supplied me with. The city I live in is enjoyable, all things considered. In the past year I have seen new sites, new places, done new things, opened myself to new experiences and learned more about who I am. I have slept under the stars in a few new-t0-me states, visited old, wonderful friends in new places. I have remembered to laugh often. In my 25th year I attended zero funerals and a few weddings, saw my mom leave for Florida, helped sell a house and move from it, lived with my brother and watched him move to California. Some good music (Brazzillville, Nick Drake, The Shins) came my way, as did a few good movies (Garden State, Sideways, This Old Cub). I read several new books and wrote some new stories, but not nearly enough.

It was a year without any serious romantic interest, but I learned to make a complete life with happiness anyway.

Year 25 had ups and and downs. Nothing tragic happened and the good far, far outweighed the bad, making this past year one of the best in the recent past.