Tag Archives: birthdays

New Chapters


Yesterday was Mark’s birthday.  We’ve been celebrating for nearly a week and have a few more celebrations yet.

But this was a bigger birthday and as we often do, we talked quite a bit about the meaningfulness of birthdays, milestones and markers in our life.

We were talking about chapters and how sometimes you don’t realize that one chapter is ending and another one is beginning, and sometimes you’re acutely aware of it.

Mark thinks he is on the precipice of the next great chapter in his life – which is a really exciting concept to think about.

And, of course sometimes the chapters surprise you.  One such experience we laughed about is that when you’re graduating from college you think that the graduation moment is the real “chapter change.”  But, really its a few months after college, when you’re figuring out what’s next, more independent, perhaps with a job that you realize the significance and gravity of the “chapter change.”

Do you think that milestones can change the chapters in your life?

Happy Birthday to Me, Almost


Twenty-three is old. It’s almost 25, which is like almost mid-20s.
Jessica Simpson, American Singer (1980 – )
Thanks Jess…

In a week I will be 26.  I have always put pressure on 26, because it’s my birthday that will match my birth date (26 on the 26th).  It is completely arbitrary and I am not quite sure where I came up with it, but never the less, I feel pretty good about turning 26.  This has been quite the busy year.

In polling the Internet I came across many lists of “What to Do Before You’re 25/30”, and while there were some items on that list that will probably never happen there are a lot that have.

At 25 I, celebrated love and marriage with all of the women in my life, spent a weekend of slumber parties with my best girlfriends, ate late night pancakes at the IHOP – which sounds like as much of a bad idea as it was, planned the best party of my life, paid for said party, danced with my dad, danced a choreographed dance with my husband, gotten a massage and facial, been pampered with my mom and sister, gone to Mexico, scuba dived, ate real tacos in Mexico, tried tequila straight, bought a TV – finding the right TV is surprisingly hard, gone to the movies, got snowed in, played in the blizzard,  planned a trip, had a Passover Seder, went to Yellowstone National Park, climbed serious mountains, ate buffalo meat, saw a bison – this close, bought a house, packed up our entire condo, moved, cried, made a home back in DC, celebrated the 4th of July from the top of the town, went to India, got sick in India, rode an elephant, tested my strength, mentally and emotionally, started a blog...

25 has been a great year, and I know that 26 will only be that much better, with even more to celebrate and that much more to be thankful for.

Counting down…