Birthdays

I never used to take birthdays particularly seriously - it just wasn't part of my family's traditions. In my family, the tradition was that a kid's birthday was an excuse for a big present and a meal out, all deliverable around the date of the birthday. There were a few parties, but only a few. I don't remember celebrating my parents' birthdays at all. But now, things have changed.

For one thing, Andy's family has different traditions. They pay more attention to actual birthdates and continue to mark adult birthdays more than my family does.

Now that Andy and I have 4 kids under 7, we don't get enough time for us to renew our own energy and refresh ourselves, so adult birthdays have become very important. Andy knows that on his birthday and on Father's Day, I will do my best to treat him to a late morning and some time to himself, and I know that he will do the same for me on my birthday and on Mother's Day. We try to find more time than that for ourselves, but these 4 days have become fixed points in our calendar.

This year, my birthday has been the excuse for a series of wonderful experiences. Firstly, last spring (months before the actual birthdays), my brother arranged for me to take Patrick to England for a 4-day weekend as a combined birthday present. We saw some of my family, saw The Lion King in the West End and visited some museums.

Later, in the summer, Andy took me to see Depeche Mode in Toronto.

On my actual birthday, I got breakfast in bed, cards and presents from the kids (thanks Andy for getting them organized), and an itinerary. My instructions were to take Andy's car and iPod (specially loaded with my favourite music) to the train station and to take myself into Toronto to see the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum. It was a fantastic day out and one I would not have taken without Andy saying "Go!"

I still don't think birthdays themselves are incredibly important, but I do think they serve the purpose of reminding us to create special times for each other from time to time. And, that is important.