52!

Today is my birthday!

Growing up, birthdays were a big deal. There was always a family party, with aunts and uncles and cousins and way too much food, often a shared celebration with other extended family members in your “birthday cluster”. (The biggest clusters were January / early February, and September.) There was usually a kids party, with games and cake and presents, at our house. Even though I was a pretty shy kid, I loved these parties — the anticipation of getting ready for guests to arrive, having everyone sing, and of course, the presents.

As a young adult, I also preferred to celebrate my birthday by going out or celebrating with friends. My partner’s thrown me a couple of surprise parties over the years (including one when we first started dating), and some of my happiest memories are being out surrounded by friends in a local bar or restaurant. Some of my least favorite memories from this period in my life were during my college years, because my birthday fell right after we all went home for the summer and I couldn’t celebrate with my college friends.

In recent years, I’ve gravitated towards quieter celebrations. I try to fill the day with favorite things: coffee from my favorite local place, time outdoors in nature, writing, crafting. I celebrate quietly with those closest to me. Tonight, weather-permitting, we’ll grill burgers and salmon burgers on the deck, and eat birthday cake that my kids apparently are making this afternoon. I’ll savor the presents sitting on my kitchen table, and open them after we’ve eaten cake. We’ll extend the celebrations over the weekend by doing some of my favorite things together as a family — and I’ll take advantage of the fact that I don’t teach or have office hours on Monday to take the day off, as it’s a holiday that my institution doesn’t recognize.

I also take my birthday as an opportunity to reflect on my intentions for the year ahead. The word that keeps coming to mind is EXPLORE. There’s much I want to explore — in my research, in my career path moving forward, in creating and going on adventures — and sabbatical, with its less-structured time and freer responsibilities, seems like the perfect time for this exploration. EXPLORE also fits rather neatly with my 2024 theme, CREATE, and I look forward to figuring out all the ways I can incorporate these two ideas into my life over the next year.

Now, off to start enjoying my birthday!