Birthdays....

I went out walking today to see some of the nice colors in the sunshine - gorgeous! The whole time I was walking I was thinking about my birthday coming up -- and how years seem to be flying by me. I thought of birthdays past when my kids were little and my Mom used to take them to buy me something so they would have a present for me. I got so many gifts from the dollar stores and thrift shops - and I think I have every one of them still!

I remember getting a coffee thermos with a pump on it one year (from a yard sale!) - my son, who was about 6 at the time, was so proud to give me that as I had said I wanted one to take coffee with me in the car when we traveled next time. We had gone to Six Flags that year in NJ - just the three of us, myself, my daughter and my son. It was a fun trip singing to the radio with my son sitting upfront while he was learning how to read a map (and I mean LEARNING!) and my daughter in the backseat trying to listen to her music and wishing she was in any other car but the one she was! We stayed in a hotel for three entire days! We watched movies, played games and ate junk food! It was the best vacation ever back then. But I digress...

Let's get back to my birthday. So -- as I said my birthday is coming up soon and as I look back on some of the my past presents and remember them fondly and smile and get all teary eyed at times reminiscing about gifts my immediate thought was "yahoo - I'm sooooo glad my kids are now all grown up now with jobs where they make more money than I do. NOWWWWW... it's payback time!" Now I can get really cool presents! Oh, I've gotten some cool things in the past too - a digital camera, spa days, pedicures, restaurant gift certificates, dinners out, movies out... and on and on - it's so great but I'm thinking bigger.. much bigger!

So.. as my birthday approaches this year I'm hoping my kids will read THIS blog --- I'm really in the market for one of these three things (I'll give them choices so they'll still have a chance to surprise me!): First - an iPad 2 that would be amazing! I want a 64 gig, 3G, Wifi version - I would love that and with people splitting up the costs and getting it while online shopping through my website it should be affordable! - If that isn't in the cards, well.... I really want to go see Lady Gaga in concert! I want to be in the first few rows WITH MY KIDS! How fun would it be for ME? And it is my birthday so it IS all about me! Think how much fun it would be to dance and sing while my kids looked on in horror at their mother at a Lady Gaga concert! wow... or if they can't stand that embarrassment then my third option would be chocolate - LOTS of chocolate. :)

Actually as I have reflected back over my so so many past birthdays I realize that what I remember the most are the circumstances, the feelings, the looks of joy and excitement on my children's faces as they gave me something. I guess as I've gotten older the material things still don't mean much to me - what I really really want for my birthday is to only make more memories.

Happy Birthday to everyone out there.