Well, my birthday has come and gone (it was actually Saturday). As I was finally getting around to taking down the decorations my dear Brian so lovingly hung, I was thinking about my birthday. It was a wonderful birthday - no doubt. But in a funny way, the day of my actual birthday was far different than I had planned.
I actually was blessed to celebrate the majority of the weekend. Friday night we went to Brian's parents for my favorite Harrington meal, New Mexico enchiladas! I ate way too much and had a really fun time. Sunday, my parents took us all to my favorite Mexican food restaurant for dinner and again we had so much fun - even WITH the loud birthday demonstration by the waiters. (At least I didn't have to wear a sombrero and stand on the table.) But Saturday was hardly what I'd planned. I had planned an early breakfast out followed by our back to homeschool Mass at church. Then later that afternoon the whole family was to go with our best friends to the beach. I was so looking forward to MY plan. Well, the day began rainy. Because the shuttle launch had been scrubbed on Friday morning, Brian had to work again on Saturday morning (it turned out to be a beautiful launch). He had to get up at 2am to go to work and of course that left ME alone with the kids for a way too normal toast and jelly breakfast. I began to feel sorry for ME. Then we went to Mass in the rain. Mass was not quite picture perfect if you know what I mean and this probably had to do with the fact that I was already feeling sorry for ME. We made it home just in time to watch the launch and then I spent the next several hours waiting for Brian to come home and worrying about MY day. It was still raining and things weren't looking great. When Brian returned home I was weepy and sad (remember I AM pregnant!) He put so much love into the rest of MY day and things did turn out nicely.
We ended up going out to lunch (Mexican) and had a really great time. Then we drove by the most magnificent bakery in the world and picked up a special cake Brian had ordered. Then we went on home to have some fun opening presents. The beach did not work out, but we had our best friends over anyway. That always makes for fun. The guys picked up Subway (way too much Mexican to eat anything else) and we shared the cake! It turned out really great!
What I guess disappoints me the most is not how my day turned out differently than I had planned, but how I spent a lot of time worrying about ME. How selfish. I know it was MY birthday, but how selfish of me. I think I gave new meaning to the song lyric, "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to!" I am not good at dealing with changes of plans and so see my difficulties. I don't want to do this next year. I want to be more outward focused, more Christlike. I want to be more flexible. I know the Lord always has something to teach me. I just didn't expect it to be on my birthday.
Thank you Lord for showing me that my birthday could be wonderful even if it wasn't "as planned." Help me to be less selfish and more flexible.
Next year I plan to make no plans. :))))
5 comments:
Okay, now who's being hard on herself? Actually, I was the one feeling those feelings FOR you! You didn't sound the least bit upset over things not working out as planned. I was amazed at how well you were taking everything (I'm usually a big baby when my plans don't workout). Anyway, I think you handled everything beautifully. I think we're all allowed to be a little disappointed from time to time, especially when we are pregnant. :)
Okay, I read that last statement in my comments and that "we are pregnant" was referring to you and most definitely did NOT mean me! Just wanted to clarify that. ;)
Mmmmm...New Mexico enchiladas--the best!
Last year I came home on the morning of my birthday after working a 12 hour night shift at the hospital, just in time for Darren to give me a quick kiss before heading to work. So I was alone with the kids all day, exhausted, and, come to think of it, I, too, was pregnant at the time! This year, Darren took the entire day off. :) (And I didn't work the night before...never again will I make that mistake!)
I'm glad you were still able to enjoy your birthday weekend. It's so humbling to realize that OUR plans aren't always GODS plans, especially when we're so looking forward to OUR plans!
Happy belated birthday!
Everyone wants their birthday to be special and they way they want. Goes back to childhood when they were such special days, and they should be, it's your day.
Derick has missed my birthday the past two years and will miss it yet again this year. It ticks me off, but I am just going to change course and find a new plan. Take the kid out of school and do something really fun if my body can keep up. I am glad your day turned out good in the end.
Congratulations on the pregnancy, had no idea. When are you due?
How funny is it that I e-mail you about when your birthday is when you were probably actually celebrating it. It was like some kind of birthday telepathy talking to me. Love the restaurant picture!!
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