Happy Birthday to Me

It’s the eve of my birthday, and for the first time in quite a few years, I am not cowering as I get ready to add another number to my age.

This was the year of my metamorphous. I emerged from the cocoon that held me tight for seven long years.

It’s also magical about that seven. Seven years of tough times. I look forward to the next seven filled with adventure and new experiences.

So on this natal day eve I toast all the things that brought me to a new place and the people who helped me get here:

– For my writing and my desire to take more risks. I wrote more fiction, and I focused on poetry. Three of my “small stones”

were chosen to be featured earlier this year. My poem on Civil Rights in St. Augustine was featured in a commissioned orchestral performance piece in February and performed again this fall in Iowa.

– For writing pals, the cheerleaders and the loyal readers of my blog. I treasure all of you for your likes, your comments, and your words of support.

– For letting go of the emotional baggage I continued to carry around long after my divorce. I feel like a large weight was lifted.

– For my niece Jennifer who has no idea how she has inspired her middle aged aunt to be bolder. From wearing red lipstick for the first time in my life, to riding the train alone in Chicago, she is everything I wish to be (better late than never!)

– For my nephew Jeff, who lives his passion for nature in every part of his life. His job is protecting the rapidly declining park lands in Florida and all its flora and fauna. His photographs are breathtakingly beautiful. He has inspired me to never go outside without looking around at the beauty that surrounds me. Many of my poems strive to capture that same beauty.

-For good books by good authors who show me by example good description, plot development and how to make dialogue sound real. I’m learning, and I’m more careful thanks to them.

– To the good people I encounter each day who tell me their stories. I gather them to me likes precious stones.Each one is recorded to be used in a scene, a story or a poem later.

– For self- love. Taking tender care of myself makes it easier to love everyone around me.

– For standing up for myself, declaring clearly what I need, not settling for less than what I deserve.

– For peace in my world for the first time in a very long time

– For loving acceptance of wrinkles, and gray hair. For embracing my sweet tummy, and my swollen knuckles. I look at myself every morning, smile and say: you look damn good for your age!

– For being loved and accepted for who I am.

Happy Birthday to me!

©annettealaine 2014

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