My 27th Birthday Celebration

Today is March 20th, the 1st day of Spring where I say goodbye to 26 and introduce myself to 27. I look in the mirror to try to remember what 26 looks like and wonder if 27 will look or feel any different than 26. Saying goodbye to another year and trying to embrace another year of my life.

Birthday celebrations aren't normally what happens for my birthday but for the past 2 years my close friends and husband has made it very special and memorable. This year I wasn't ready to celebrate my birthday. However, my close friends and Ray were determined to celebrate my life by showing me how much they care and love me, and that makes me love and appreciate them more and more every day! 

My birthday festivities began the morning of my birthday, March 21st! I received my first "Happy Birthday" text from my sister-in-law Shawn, my first phone call from my sister and her kids singing me "Happy Birthday", then next was my dad wishing me a "Happy Birthday", with other "Happy Birthday" texts throughout the day from family and friends. Ray surprised me with a homemade strawberry birthday cake with flowers and balloons at work. I was hoping to keep my birthday a secret but the cat was out of the bag.

Ray made dinner reservations at Slauda's at 5 points in Columbia. It was very elegant with the appropriate lightning and ambiance. We each ordered appetizers, mine was the Lobster Bisque (very delicious), his was Calamari. Then onto our entrees, mine was shrimp & scallops with rice and coleslaw (looks better in picture but in person was terrible) his was Ribeye Steak with Mac & Cheese and Scallops (his was way better and I made sure to eat off his plate rather than mine).

One of Ray's gifts that he gave me was unforgettable. He purchased 4 different cards that all added up to 27. Each card he wrote something special pertaining to different ages I was when we were dating, with tid bits of romance and thoughtfulness.

My birthday celebration didn't stop on my birthday it extended into Friday with all of us meeting at Salud for dinner. Everyone had a great Mexican meal with wonderful conversation. Afterward the McCorkle's invited us over for cake and ice cream. Since I've given up chocolate for lent, my dear friend Jan made a vanilla pound cake topped with strawberries & whipped cream accompanied with Breyers vanilla ice cream. We all had a great time socializing and taking pictures before we ended the night. 

Turning 27 was hard to take in and to grip with but in the end it feels great. So I looked in the mirror to see if 27 looks any different or if I look more like 27 than 26. I hear people say you like a "certain age" but what they say its normally not your correct age. When turning your new age, do you eventually embrace your new age or do you always look younger or older than what your true age is? As we get older we want to look younger and when we were younger we always wanted to look older. Are we gonna be happy when we celebrate our next birthday as we turn 1 year older or are we going to dispute that we are 1 year older?

I want to send a special thanks to my friends here in Camden for making my 27th birthday a day to remember and thanks to Ray for bringing my spirits up and making me shine!