Birthday Celebrations

It is that time of year again - time when I celebrate being one year older! This year I celebrated turning 33. It feels like the years are flying past as I get older and I suppose sometime soon I will be tempted to start lying about my age :) But for now I am happy to celebrate all that that has happened in the past few year. It has been a year with quite a few milestones. I completed my Master's Degree and became a Certified Nurse-Midwife. And I was appointed to return as a career missionary in Indonesia.

So over the past couple of weeks I have celebrated with family and friends. My celebration actually started before my birthday with an afternoon of shopping (shoes of course!) and time with my sisters Kara and Laura in Seattle. I worked the day of my actual birthday, so I also got to celebrate with my friends at work.

Finally I went camping with my parents and grandparents. Because of the time of year celebrating my birthday with a camping trip was common when I was kid. During this trip we had fun remembering past trips. I got my first bike during a camping trip! Little did I know until we were discussing it this time my parents had saved and been very excited to find a used bike that would work for me at the time. We also remembered a camping trip that was so hot that it melted all the frosting on the cake and it slid off as we traveled leaving a mess :) My mom had a lot of fun creating cakes each year, spending a lot of time decorating it with our chosen theme of the year, so I am sure it was disappointing at the time but all I can remember now is lifting the lid off that cake container to see that mess and having a good laugh. It still tasted delicious!

This year we traveled over the North Cascade Highway to Lone Fir Campground where we met my grandparents who live in Wenatchee, WA. Over the next several days we spent the days hiking area trails (including my 92 year-old grandpa!), enjoying the beautiful views, spending the evening around the campfire, and spending the night in a tent with my parents. Been about 30 years since I shared a tent with just my parents :) All in all we had a great time!

  

This coming year will include a lot of changes and next year I will most likely be celebrating in a very different place and with different people. That makes this birthday a bit bittersweet. Although I am looking forward to creating more special birthday memories next year.