Birthdays
Why I (Still) Celebrate my Birthday
After about the age of nineteen, for many, birthdays are greeted with much derision but me? I like to celebrate another year full of laughter, fun and of course new experiences. I think of a birthday as a celebration of being on this planet rather than having one year less to go. Who’s to say what will happen? My plan is to make the most of every minute and pack every day and go places I want to go every year.Up until the big 40 I had parties at home just for my nearest and dearest – no hangers on that were unknown to me. I only want to celebrate the most important day of my year with people that matter, not strangers. Each year would have a theme, NOT fancy dress but a random theme just for fun. The last few were Bollywood, a children’s party, pink, All Saints and ending with ‘Letting it all Go’. The 40th was a surprise to everyone; it was a commemoration of everyone I have known in my life with a look back in pictures and every track we played was painstakingly put together (remember @girltaristhan ?) as I celebrated a lifetimes’ love of music; we had top 3s, top 5s and top 10s of all my favourite artists and genres and yet with 5 hours, I still didn’t have room for Springsteen.After 15 years of this; of caterers, wait staff and the traditional fireworks, I realise that all I’m doing is paying a small fortune just to get my national friends together once a year, twice if you count the summer party too.So the new tradition is take those few hundred £££ and go to a place I haven’t been before. I have been to San Francisco, Washington, Montreal and this year, Milan all adding to life’s rich experiences to be celebrated next year.