Thoughts on turning 7 and a little Wishcasting for the upcoming year

If you ask Cowgirl, she will tell you I am now 7. She is a bright child, understands 500 is bigger than 100, a 1,000 is bigger than both but somehow in her mind she is 5 and I now have turned 7. Daddy (who by her logic should be 6) is 13. I guess it is his bald head. She cannot be convinced that I am older than Pa-Pa.

There is something wonderful about celebrating a birthday through your child's eyes. The grown ups are a little too tired to make much of a fuss (truth be told, I want a fuss, but there you have it) but Cowgirl will not let it die. She informed me on Monday she is in charge of the calendar this week at school and she told everyone my birthday was coming. She has been talking about what the fairies might do for me - a quandary to be sure since I am the fairies hand, eyes and feet ... so yes, I wrote myself a note from the fairies wishing me a happy birthday and slipped it into her mailbox this morning before she arrived downstairs for the celebratory birthday scones she had me buy yesterday at Whole Foods (woefully non-sconelike scones I might add.)

One thing I seem to be teaching my daughter is the concept of doing for yourself. We are big on Thank You notes in our house and I guess I must mention who gave her what more often than I realize. Today she has on her Jeannie Shirt (turtleneck lovingly appliqued with a horse by a dear friend) and she loves coming home and coloring in the pads Adeline gave her for her birthday. So I shouldn't be surprised when she repeatedly points and asks me "mommy, who gave you that necklace?" or "I like that shirt mommy, who gave you it?" And I find myself replying fairly often "well honey, mommy got that for herself."

I had a friend who would buy herself a bottle of champagne every year on her birthday, explaining she did not want to rely upon anyone else to celebrate her day. I guess I've been living that philosophy in my daily life, justifying if I don't do this for me, why should I expect others to? Still, birthdays have been a time when I have waited for others to remember me and I've been disappointed a lot over the years. Of course, I don't remind people it is coming up. I've equated remembering with caring and that has gotten me into trouble. For I will remember a significant date is coming up, but still fail to make the time to do something in time. I'm a scrambler-at-the-last minute type even though I've known for weeks. It has nothing to do with caring; we're just all way over-extended, short on down time for all the details.

So today I am adopting a "celebrate as we go" attitude and making this day what I want for myself. A day of play, dancing, responding to our whims and fancies and letting go of crazy expectations. Because 7 is a wonderful age to be especially with a 5 year old to lead the way.

(Okay, a necessary addendum because I sound like a horrible ingrate here ... I have received such amazingly thoughtful gifts from friends ... packages filled with pampering and crafting goodies from Leanne and Diana and the most creative photo homages from my Unravelling 365 Flickr pool crew who just rocked the day for me. And then this afternoon Cowgirl was making cards for her aunties and she came up to me with a card she made especially for my birthday: me holding kite. My kite of dreams. Indeed, I am so blessed by so many and I never never want it to seem that I've forgotten that.)

And because it is my day, I am choosing to make a wish for the coming year. I want this year to be a time of deeply, fully believing in myself, listening to my dreams and living fearlessly as I step forward to bring those dreams into reality. The two qualities I wish to bring into my life are Patience and Joy. I think if I can work on the first, the second will naturally arise.

Big wishes but hey, at 7 I am ready for some big girl gifts. And while I'm asking, I might as well throw in a wish for that 50 mm lens that seems to be dancing through my dreams lately.

Happy Birthday to us all ... because every day we can choose as a new beginning. ♥

(oh, and for those curious few ... just add a few decades onto 7 and you will have my true age.)