About a year ago, I had this picture of what my 30th birthday might look like. Paris…surrounded by romance, culture, amazing food and as many macarons as I could eat. Then I remembered that the weather in Paris in February is not very conducive to carting around two young children who kinda kill the romance and I quickly decided that April may be a better time to visit the city of love. No matter, I thought of the friends that I would make and the venue that I might share my birthday dinner.
However, shortly into the Lenten term, we discovered just how busy Ben would be the week of my special day and without the resources to pull anything off by myself, decided that an understated family dinner was just fine.
It definitely wasn’t the 30th birthday I had dreamt of, nothing ever does seem to go the way I plan, but it was good nonetheless. The best part: the sunrise.
It was a day like any other, which is how I like it…I’m getting old and I struggle with changes in my routine. So after taking Jakob to school we went out for coffee then it was off to music therapy.
And after school? A reunion of the park dwellers. Love that.
Then the big surprise! My mom came. She can’t keep a secret to save her life so she told me a couple of days ago, but that it is a surprise for me. The nights are long and my daughter is a little crazy these days so I am so happy to have her here. We went out for dinner and I went home and slept….without a pair of feet in my back (because he was with Grandma).
And I suppose you are wondering what I got for my birthday?
Well this arrived today…from Portugal? and if it is from you…THANK YOU! I love it.
I did get something else…
There it is….still in its box….unopened.
You see, while there are many times when I have remarked that if I had an iphone my life might be a little easier, I have said it knowing that it is really unnecessary. I have a cell phone, you know the kind that has buttons. The kind that can’t access the internet and doesn’t have angry birds? And while, I sometimes do feel the pressure to join the rest of the smart phone world (like at Christmas dinner with one half glued to their blackberries and the other side of the table absorbed in their iphones, ipads, i_____), I can’t justify the cost of such a phone without a contract. You see, I don’t know where I will live in 8 months, or in a year, or two, or three.
I also fear that I will become one of those people….do you know them? The kind that sit there, phone in hand, or if you are in a really deep conversation, the phone sits on the table inches away from their hand for the quick uptake if someone texts them. I HATE that! The obsession with this device, if you ask me, is a low point in humanity. I know that it is not the case for everyone and it can be a useful tool for navigation and communication but why do I, little old me, with no job or responsibilities outside of my children. I am already far more techno savvy than I ever thought I would be – on twitter, facebook, pinterest and a blog….gasp! I don’t want to become one of those mothers, sitting there on the internet whilst her children go crazy in Starbucks….do you know what I mean? Am I the only one out there without a smart phone?
I haven’t decided what I am going to do and I feel awful, because I know my husband and mom were trying to give me a gift that would really wow me. Something that I would love, have always wanted and would never buy myself, which exactly what this is. But now that I have it, I know I don’t need it, I don’t deserve it and can only think about how it would buy a few months worth of groceries….
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On a completely different note – a higher note:
Did you check out my birthday giveaway?! Go on, enter. It’s my birthday and I want to give away things I love, to you, readers I love.
Happy Friday.
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