Today is my birthday. 31 years old, and I feel every minute of it. I should know by now that my birthdays usually end up a craptacular shitstorm of disappointment, beginning with my 16th birthday in which Wesley broke up with me, and ending with last year's disastrous stay in Hicktown, USA (aka Helen, Georgia). The past year has been transformational for me. I've established new boundaries personally and professionally and reevaluated my priorities. My children have always been my top priority, but I am now making an effort to always put them first in evey aspect of my life. This includes distancing myself from formerly close family and friends that require more emotional support than I am able to give at this point in my life. It also means career suicide at a company that demands your commitment 24/7 and has no understanding of family values.
This year, I decided to avoid the birthday disappointment by ignoring its arrival and planning an outing with the kids instead. We decided to go to Carowinds to celebrate as well as bribe the kids into not making us take them to the state fair. We had our fill of slack-jawed yokels at Helen last year. Today started much like last year- Wesley and I arguing over silly things and rain pouring down, threatening to ruin our day. We spent the first hour or so in between downpours. The kids were good sports, for sure.
The good thing is the rain kept a lot of people away, so the kids were able to ride whatever they wanted as many times as they wanted. It stopped around lunch time, and we dried out for the most part. The crowds increased a little, but not enough to really impact out wait times for rides. Victoria got to meet Dora, they posed with the Scooby gang, and Vic only had a few moments of Diva behavior.
A good time was had by all, despite my bum knee, that is now the size of a cantaloupe. It's not even 8:30, and I'm the only one awake in the house. The amazing thing is for once I'm not bothered that there was no big celebration, no surprise party, no attention lavished on me. I had a great day because they had a great day, and that's all that matters. I guess you are a different person in your 30s than you are in your 20s, and it's a welcome change. Although I can't help but feel like our day was missing a little something...
