Best Birthday Ever!
Who knew that growing older could have so many joys? I sure didn’t. I dreaded growing old, leaving a life of adventures behind. I had NO idea.
I recently had a birthday. On my birthday, I had a new group in town, and I was taking them around to their appointments. It’s always hard, the first day, connecting with a group who has been together for a while, but the structure carries it, and the day went smoothly.
When my itinerary and biographies were delivered, I also got a birthday gift from the best boss, ever. I’ve been with them as a volunteer for almost five years now, and they gave me a silver name tag – beautiful! with a magnetic back, so it doesn’t ruin my silk blouses. They also gave me a box of my own business cards, even though I am “just” a volunteer.
The biggest gift, though, was the gift of their trust.
In my innermost mind, I sometimes hear voices. These voices are harsh. They say things like this:
“What do YOU know about government and politics and how they work?”
“Who do you think you are?”
“What makes you think you’re so special?”
These are the malicious voices that will make me cower in fear, will make me turn down opportunities, voices that make me doubt myself.
My boss asked me in December to take this particular group. I’ve taken several groups before, often enough that it’s not a big deal, but this time had a twist – she would be out of town, so would her deputy; I would be “it.”
I heard the voices. I hesitated, but only briefly. They trust me to do a good job, in their eyes, I can do it. In my most rational mind, I know better than to listen to those voices that would tear me down and undermine my confidence, and it really helps to have the trust of those with whom I work on a regular basis to counter those voices who would have me keep my head down, stay in my place. I am in my place. I am doing what I was created to do.
So it was more than the beautiful silver name-tag and the cards, it was the expression of trust that I would handle any problems that came up (I did) and that trust was a wonderful confirmation of who I am and of what I am capable.
We had a very good day, this group and I. When I got home, there was a huge bouquet of white roses waiting for me; my sweet husband knows what I love. I was over the moon, and he said “I really really wanted to throw in a red rose or two because I love them, but I know YOU love white roses” and that was the second wonderful gift of the day, that he would buy me beautiful roses, the kind I like, not the kind he though I should like. 🙂
He also took me out for Chinese take-out, not his favorite thing, but one of my favorite comfort food kind of things, and it turned out to be surprisingly good, especially for Pensacola where we all bemoan the lack of really really good Chinese food. Every dish was really good, exceeding our expectations.
Then, we got a call from our son and his family, off on their own grand adventure, and my little just-five-year-old grandson sang to me “Happy Birthday to you,” and totally made my day.
The next night we went to Seville Quarter and had this wonderful steak they serve, on top of a crusted mashed potato-garlic-cheese combination, with a fabulous sauce that reminded us of France, and grilled asparagus. Still my birthday 🙂
There are things that matter, and things that don’t. I suspect I will hear those harsh voices as long as I live, and I thank God for all the countering experiences and voices which have shown those demeaning voices to be false – and meaningless. Living my life in the best way I know – that is a gift. Being surrounded by those who value me and encourage me and love me and who lift me when I stumble and say “You CAN do it!” That’s a gift. Having a sweet family who love me genuinely, and value me – that is a gift. Having work to do that is worth doing – that is a gift. Having a husband who cares what I like, who encourages and supports me and makes me laugh – I am so blessed.
February 10, 2015 - Posted by intlxpatr | Adventure, Aging, Arts & Handicrafts, Beauty, Biography, Character, Circle of Life and Death, Community, Cultural, Eating Out, ExPat Life, Family Issues, Friends & Friendship, Gulf Coast Citizen Diplomacy Council, Interconnected, Living Conditions, Marriage, Pensacola, Quality of Life Issues, Restaurant, Work Related Issues | Seville Quarter
5 Comments »
Leave a Reply Cancel reply
-
Recent Posts
Blog Stats
- 2,844,293 hits
Pages
Meta
Recent Comments
Wikipedia Donate Button
Amazina
Early Voting in Florida
Archives
- January 2023
- December 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- December 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
Catagories
- Advent
- Adventure
- Afghanistan
- Africa
- Aging
- Air France
- Alaska
- Arts & Handicrafts
- Beauty
- Biography
- Birds
- Blogging
- Blogroll
- Books
- Botswana
- Building
- Bureaucracy
- Character
- Charity
- Chocolate
- Christmas
- Circle of Life and Death
- Civility
- Climate Change
- Cold Drinks
- color
- Communication
- Community
- Cooking
- Counter-terrorism
- Crime
- Cross Cultural
- Cultural
- Customer Service
- Detective/Mystery
- Dharfur
- Diet / Weight Loss
- Doha
- Easter
- Eating Out
- Education
- Eid
- Entertainment
- Entrepreneur
- Environment
- EPIC Book Club
- Events
- Exercise
- ExPat Life
- Experiment
- Faith
- Family Issues
- Fiction
- Financial Issues
- Fitness / FitBit
- Florida
- Food
- France
- fraud
- Free Speech
- Friends & Friendship
- Fund Raising
- Gardens
- Generational
- Geography / Maps
- Germany
- GoogleEarth
- Gulf Coast Citizen Diplomacy Council
- Halloween
- Health Issues
- Heritage
- History
- Holiday
- Home Improvements
- Hot drinks
- Hotels
- Humor
- Hurricanes
- Hygiene
- India
- Interconnected
- iPhone
- Iran
- Ireland
- Italy
- Joke
- Jordan
- Just Bad English
- Kenya
- KLM
- Kuwait
- Language
- Law and Order
- Leadership
- Lectionary Readings
- Lent
- Lies
- Living Conditions
- Local Lore
- Locard Exchange Principal
- Lumix
- Mardi Gras
- Marketing
- Marriage
- Mating Behavior
- Middle East
- Money Management
- Morocco
- Movie
- Moving
- Music
- New Orleans
- News
- Nigeria
- NonFiction
- Oman
- Pakistan
- Parenting
- Paris
- Pensacola
- Pet Peeves
- Pets
- Photos
- Poetry/Literature
- Political Issues
- Privacy
- Public Art
- Qatar
- Qatteri Cat
- Quality of Life Issues
- Ramadan
- Random Musings
- Rants
- Recipes
- Relationships
- Renovations
- Restaurant
- Road Trips
- Safety
- Satire
- Saudi Arabia
- Scams
- Seattle
- Shopping
- Social Issues
- South Africa
- South Sudan
- Spiritual
- Statistics
- Stranger in a Strange Land
- Sudan
- sunrise series
- Sunsets
- Survival
- Tag
- Tanzania
- Technical Issue
- Thanksgiving
- Tibet
- Tools
- Transparency
- Travel
- Tunisia
- Turkey
- Uncategorized
- Values
- Venice
- Weather
- Wildlife
- Women's Issues
- WordPress
- Words
- Work Related Issues
- YMCA
- Zakat
- Zambia
- Zanzibar
- Zimbabwe
Blogroll
- A.Word.A.Day
- Global Incident Map
- Global Voices Online � Kuwait
- Google Earth
- Google Earth Blog
- John Lockerbie Gulf design
- Kuwait Paper Dump
- National Public Radio
- Ogle Earth
- Operation Hope – Kuwait
- Robin Pope Safaris Zambia
- the Journey: Kisses From Katie
- The Lectionary
- Weather Underground
- Wind Map
- WordPress.com
- WordPress.org
So glad you had a great birthday! Count me as one who feels blessed to know you.
Thank you, Momcat. Looking forward to spending some time together 🙂
[…] a perfect stretch, from my birthday to Valentine’s Day. AdventureMan bought the beautiful white roses at Celebrations, a wonderful shop in Pensacola. What I love the most is that the flowers they use […]
I am so sorry I lost all my data on my old laptop. Did some search, as i remember : here , there….. the Beatles songs !
I wish you a very Happy Birthday , lots of love & big Hug XXXXX
LOL, Hayfa, thank you! My fellow winter baby!