When you’re graced with true greatness and beauty in your life, you learn to appreciate everything around you. The kindest soul I know turns 8 today, and I’m happy and sad, all at the same time.

Some things in life are very complex. Some things are not. I deal with complex issues every day, but the minute I pick my Bubby up from school, my life gets easier, happier, healthier again. He completes me, as weird as that sounds, and I think the feeling is mutual. Today, this little man, the kindest soul I know, turns 8.

EIGHT.

My BABY turns EIGHT today. How can this be possible?

He was born yesterday, right? You all remember it like it was yesterday too, don’t you?

He makes me laugh (constantly), he makes me cry (yes, sometimes he’s a butt too), but he completes my world and I don’t know what I’d do without him. My Bubby.

He’s my baby, he’s the forth chamber of my heart, and he’s so excited that he turns eight tomorrow. Me? I’m ready to turn back the hands of time and hold him in my arms and have him need me for absolutely everything. That will never happen again. He’s the last of the lineage, and I couldn’t be more proud of the little man he’s becoming. He’s smart, funny, independent, and amazing! Everyone loves Bubby, as they should!

Today, the kindest soul I know turns 8! Celebrate with us, wish him a happy birthday if you see him, but remember to be kind to me because my baby is growing up and I’m just not ready for this. He reminded me that in just two years, he’ll be ten.

What’s next? Ten years after that, he’ll be 20. It all happens in the blink of an eye. I know from experience. I relish every moment I have with this little man, with all of my children, and I mourn the days gone by because I’m afraid I didn’t relish each moment enough.

Don’t blink!

Happy birthday, little man, Z-bub, you are the light of my life. I love all of you just the same, swear I do, but you are my last. Can you just stay little just a little bit longer, please and thank you?

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On this day in history, April 19th, a lot of horrific events have happened over the years. Events no one wants to associate with celebration, certainly not this birthday jinx. Tragic events. If you share a birthday with this historically jinxed day, do you celebrate, or hide and hope that nothing else bad happens?

Fact, today is my birthday. I’ve been somewhat in hiding all day trying to avoid the birthday jinx. This has nothing (OK, almost nothing) to do with my age. I don’t want the birthday jinx to hit again. On this day in history, April 19th, a lot of horrific stuff has happens and I’d like to skip that this year. So, I’m skipping my birthday and I hope everyone can respect that in light of all of the bad shit that happens in the world these days.

Dramatic?

Not really. Let’s review.

• April 19, 1775 – It was the Shot Heard Round the World and that didn’t really work out well. War, in my humble opinion, never does. (BUT, that was a long time ago; it was a one time thing, and I wasn’t alive. It has no bearing on present day life. Right? WRONG.)
• April 19, 1993 – The FBI’s siege on the Waco Compound leaves 76 dead. I was at work, getting ready to celebrate.
• April 19, 1995 – The Oklahoma City Bombing kills 168 people, including children. Way too many children. I was sitting at a tanning salon waiting to get my tan on before heading out to celebrate.
• April 20, 1999 (OK, it’s too close not to mention) – A mass shooting at Columbine High School leaves 15 dead. I was hung over from celebrating the night before.

So, here’s the thing. Other than the first one (come’on, I’m not that old), I’ve lived through these events. On my birthday. I’m not trying to make this, the mass loss of life, about me. All I’m trying to say is that maybe if we skip this day, my annual day of celebration, nothing bad will happen. Let’s skip today. Let’s skip the violence and ugliness in the world. At least for one day; let’s make today that day so that we can possibly break the chain. It’s a bad day in history that I don’t care to celebrate.

So, I removed my birthday from Facebook. I removed it from my calendar. We aren’t celebrating. Instead, we’ll remember the many loses of life that happened, horrifically and needlessly, on this day in history, and we’ll celebrate the lives they lived instead.

Not your typical “Happy Birthday to Me” post, but this is not your typical day in history. Today, let’s celebrate being the change and do something about this fearful world we live in for our children’s sakes, shall we?

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