“Happy Birthday!” I smiled as I greeted her yesterday. Another year of her life has passed and now she will be starting another year and hopefully more to fulfill her life with beautiful things life can offer. Usual days might turn out as ordinary as they were like doing routine of duties and responsibilities in her regular days but she is definitely excited to expect more blessings to come. And so this is my thought as I was looking at my reflection while combing my hair.. (Alright, enough of the drama! Hehe)
I turned officially 27 years old yesterday as I celebrated an ordinary rainy and yet peaceful birthday. I guess yesterday was one of the most fulfilling birthday I had. No special and yet usual party celebration happened. No cake, no ice cream, and even my favorite food was absent (this is very unique – spaghetti ;P) and more? No gifts. :( Totally no celebration at all. Nada!
Maybe you are wondering “But Julie.. Are you kidding me? How can it be one of the fulfilling birthdays for you?” But it is! Why? No expenses haha! Yes, it really is. And I want to share why.
Yesterday gave me a time to reflect about all the things that happened in my life for these past months. We are now living in a new place. Moving to a new home has a lot of worries and responsibilities with it beyond excitement to have a new and refreshing house. Aside from the tiredness I felt in arranging and taking care of all the things we need to take care of, my family and I just realized the things we need for our new house, which we never thought were necessary before. Apart from the things we have to buy for the house, I had to make a new budgeting plan for all our expenses every month, which includes rent payment (we were not paying house rent in our old place and a different arrangement was agreed).
However, all of these concerns gave me and my family a sense of peace and refreshing start. I personally had a lot of worries before we ended up with this new house. Not to mention the worries I had after we were already settled here. And as I have faithfully expected, everything is in order now.
Yesterday, we were all complete here at home just relaxing. My mother was here (she is still working and staying in her employers’ place) and we had another precious moment of just sipping the chocolate drink she prepared for us while it was raining outside. I’m not intending to make this writing so long so I guess I don’t need to explain more. I guess you are already getting the idea why I had a fulfilling birthday yesterday despite that the word “party” was not linked to the word “Birthday”. As simple as it is, yesterday was truly just a Birth Day – just a usual reminder of the date of my birth. But no matter how simple it was, it didn’t stop me to feel so good and be thankful for the blessings I received for the past months of my life since my birthday last year. For some of the people who might read this who have no idea of what I'm talking about, we never thought that we will be able to afford moving to a renting apartment knowing our struggles before. My close friends definitely know what I am talking about as we had lived a difficult life.
As we are all moving on with our lives being open to changes, we are also accepting challenges and some discomforts that usually come with changes. Yet, these changes are the exact element that gives us opportunity to get stronger and express our faith more. It is really by allowing changes in our life is what makes us move on to what we truly believe and what we want to fulfill. And as long as we are thankful for all the blessings we are receiving, we will get more of what we want more than we expect possible. And like what Madam Ana from the drama series “100 Days to Heaven” said, “Huwag ka ng mangwestyon, magpasalamat ka na lang sa mga blessings na natatanggap mo” (Don’t ask for reasons, just be thankful with the blessings you are receiving).
You wouldn’t imagine the fear that enfolded me because of this simple change in my life but after conquering it, it made me realized about the great things that come with it that are definitely bigger than my fear itself. Some of those things are the opportunity to enjoy the space in our house, the comfort of this home, and the good smile of our new neighbors.
Just enjoying life and following your bliss are really powerful tools to have more from life more than we know possible. So again, life taught me to stay focus on blessings and now I’m amazed again by realizing how blessed I am.
I am even happy now that I have the ability and means to share parts of me through my writings.
God bless everyone and keep on enjoying your lives. Just be thankful and enjoy YOU!
Who knows? Maybe one day I will share a story about moving to a new place again – in a house property that we can call our own.
So it is truly a HAPPY BIRTHDAY for me. :)
P.S.
And hey! Just before I forget, greetings and wonderful wishes from friends and family are just some of the best gifts we can receive, because we know we are loved. :)
