Celebration

My birthday rolled around on February 21st.  It was also my daughter’s birthday.  In 2007 I was turning 41 and she was turning 9.  How amazing is it that we share a birthday?  Best gift ever.

Birthday Girls - 2007

The things that can happen in your life from birthday to birthday in the course of a year are quite incredible when you really think about it.  When I turned 40 in 2006 we were on top of the world!  Mike had a surprise birthday party for me with a 60s theme for my birth year (1966) and it was so much fun!  Until the next morning that is.  It took me a full day and then some to recover from that party.  Never again.  Yeah right.

Birthday Girls - 2006

Now here I was a year later with cancer.  Did I have cancer on my 40^th birthday and I just didn’t know it yet?  How long might it have been there?  I could never have imagined that I would turn 40 and all hell would break loose as it did.  However it did happen and it reinforced to me that each and every day is a gift to enjoy.  It is also a reminder to be sure to not take anything or anyone for granted.  So here I was with cancer but it was not going to stop me from celebrating another birthday with my beautiful little girl.  Plus chemo was finished which was worth celebrating as well.
To have been blessed with two healthy and amazing children and a husband who loves us all, makes me feel like the luckiest girl in the world.  Knowing this certainly helped me on this crazy cancer journey.  My family was my strength and my source of inspiration each step of the way.

Birthday Girls - 2013

If you can look beyond the negative things happening at certain times in your life you can always find something to celebrate.  No matter how small those things may be.  I believe that it is a good practice to focus on the positive and let that become front and center in your life.  Some days it will be very hard to find something positive but on other days you might find many things to celebrate and be grateful for.
There are so many sayings about celebrating life that I happen to love and would like to share with you.  No doubt you have also seen these many times but seeing them again certainly won’t hurt.
Life is not measured by the breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away. - Hilary Cooper
Always try and be a better person than you were yesterday, cause we aren't guaranteed tomorrow. - Tina A. Morgan
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. - Herm Albright
Life is uncharted territory. It reveals its story one moment at a time. - Leo Buscaglia
You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn how to surf. - Jon Kabat-Zinn
Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams. – Ashley Smith
I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet. - Mahatma Gandhi
My friends, love is better than anger.  Hope is better than fear.  Optimism is better than despair.  So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic.  And we’ll change the world. - Jack Layton

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. – Oscar Wilde
You've gotta' dance like there's nobody watching, love like you'll never be hurt, sing like there's nobody listening, and live like it's heaven on earth. (And speak from the heart to be heard.) - William W. Purkey
Some days there won’t be a song in your heart.  Sing anyway. - Emory Austin
I don't think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains. - Anne Frank

Let your life mean something. Become an inspiration to others so that they may try to do more and to become more than they are today. - Thomas D. Willhite

One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it’s worth watching. - Gerard Way
For every day that there is sunshine, there will be days of rain, it’s how we dance within them both that shows our love and pain. - Joey Tolbert

Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine. - Anthony J. D’Angelo
Wag more.  Bark less. -  Author Unknown
Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things. - Robert Brault So there you go!  Have a wonderful day and enjoy every little moment! Celebration - Kool & The Gang