Life Lesson #74 ~ Forget Your Age!

“Life should not only be lived, it should be celebrated.” Osho so perfectly reminds us of this. This quote it’s such a perfect way to start today’s post. I talk about living life, being in the moment a lot but it’s also equally as important to celebrate life. To recognize the significance and importance of the time we have here, while we have the time. Celebrating life’s little moments is a pretty important thing isn’t it? So yes, birthdays are extremely special around here. We love to gather and celebrate one another’s big day. It’s a time of joy, merrymaking and laughter. After facing years of loss and difficulties I think as a family, we’ve really grown to appreciate one another more and more. We really value our ability to share each of life’s special moments together. I mean these are milestones yes, but they are also moments we can’t forget.  A celebration, big or small, isn’t an afterthought for us but a well thought out process among our quirky tribe. After all you’re only born once right? And that’s a pretty big deal. You could say our methods of celebrating range from big shindigs to small intimate family dinners. Just as the seasons change, our style and approach does too.

Life Lesson #74 ~ live your life and forget your age. Go for a run, climb a tree, laugh until you cry, buy that outrageous shirt and for goodness gracious sake get on that roller coaster. Don’t be afraid to live out loud or embrace the adventure your soul holds. Celebrating milestones is not about ceremony, it’s about attitude. I don’t care if you’re 40 or 80, live!

This week we celebrated the man in our lives. In our typical style we gravitated towards family escapades with some salt water fishing, sushi and trivia. I can’t begin to express how much life this man has breathed into our family.  He’s just always had this knack for understanding nothing ever grows out of comfort zones and in turn pulled me out of my own through the years. Johnny has definitely taken the wheel and never let us look back. Doesn’t matter what it is, we’re active together both as a couple and as a family. Anything and everything from traveling, roller coasters, haunted houses, bowling, crossfit and anything else under the sun he’s navigated us there and back again.  Our birthday boy, well he’s a good man, authentic and real. He’s both a loving husband and a down to earth dad. There’s not much our October baby can’t engineer when push comes to shove. He’s not only bright; he’s warm, giving and a beautiful soul. He’s pretty adventurous too. Plus I happen to think the birthday boy is a handsome devil if I do say so myself. And you know what? He still makes my heart go pitter patter. And if that wasn’t enough he’s usually got me chasing butterflies around too. He’s pretty darn sweet, what you might call a real life teddy bear. I’m not bragging or anything like that but I’m a pretty lucky girl. After all he’s the love of my life, my hunny bee and I’m darn toot’in pleased to call him my hubby too. If you wanted to know anything about Johnny, it should be this: he’s a pretty easy going guy. He’s simply fun to be around; very likable. Honestly people just love to be around him. It’s what drew me to him in the first place.  On the other side of that coin Johnny’s also pretty quiet but he can be a hoot too. He’s definitely a man of few words with a smile a mile long. Johnny walks in and the room lights up. There’s no overstating, he’s pretty easy to please too. Johnny’s a beer guy, meat and potatoes and a little chocolate is all he needs. Truthfully life with my baby is anything but ordinary. Our lives are certainly not straight out of a fairy tale but they are undisputed honest-to-goodness real and filled with happiness.

Johnny, even though he’s honest enough to tell you he’d probably rather say he’s 25, and the rest of those numbers are just shipping and handling charges, isn’t unhappy with turning 45. He’s a man’s man. Not perfect, not by far but he’s genuine. Quiet yes, proud and rough around the edges, absolutely but still lighthearted, loyal and modest all the same. Together we make quite a pair. He’s the yang to my yin. Truthfully we’ve set out on some pretty big adventures together, experienced some fairly uncertain times and celebrated all the milestones side by side. Johnny and our life together have been my greatest risk and by far biggest reward.  In stepping into his world, I was given gifts far beyond anything I could have ever asked for. In sharing his name, in loving each other in sickness and in health and in raising our children together life has given us multiple milestones to celebrate. So yes celebrating our October baby this year wasn’t hard at all, it’s the truth. His love, humor and strength just make it easy to appreciate and applaud.

Happy birthday baby!  You have grown into a man of true character these last 20 plus years. You have developed a fearless spirit with integrity, never retreating from a challenge. We love you. I love you and “In my book, you are my prince. In my movies, you are my hero. In my body you are my heart. In my life you are my everything.” Now let’s get out there, forget our ages and live our lives out loud!

~Christina