Happy Birthday to me :-)

Yup, I'm 47 years old today. As you can see, I'm not one to have any issues with my age. When friends or family start moaning about how old they are, I tell them that their age is much better than the alternative. Seriously.

I've never been one to be one of those "grateful for every moment I'm alive" people - but I do realize how precious life is. And if we spend our time moaning and fearing age, then we will and do miss out on a lot of what life has to offer. Personally, as soon as the new year rolls over, if I'm asked my age, I say "I'll be XX in May." That's just the way I am. I'm lucky enough to be alive, to be able to be that age. To be able to say I'm 47 years old.

That's not to say that I regret the passage of time. I do. There are times when I wish I had certain periods of my life back so I could do things over or change things. But I can't. And life goes on.

Just this past Saturday, we attended a memorial service and the burial of the ashes of a friend's wife. She died 8 months ago in another province and her husband, my husband's friend, brought her home to be buried. She was 56 when she died of cancer. That's way too young for anyone to die and it's definitely too young for Louise to have died. Earlier this year, my Internet friend, Trish died of a brain aneurysm. We just heard of an elementary school mate of my oldest son's died in a car accident last week. I see images every day of all the children who died in China and families that died in Burma over the past few weeks. The other day, I went to visit my brother's grave, the one who took his life a little over 3 years ago at the age of 35.

Getting older should never be something to be frightened of. It should be embraced because it means that we are making it through life - through the good and the bad. We may slow down; we may ache more than before. We may lose some people who we love. But we still can love others, make people laugh, teach children new things, learn new things, and live our lives as we see fit.

I'm 47 years old today. And I'm darned proud of it.

Today at Help My Hurt:

Company’s calling: For Grace’s founder, Cynthia Toussaint speaks out
4-time NBA All-Star/Philadelphia 76ers coach, Maurice Cheeks lives with gout
Help My Hurt has a sister now
Chronic pain fact
Teething pain

Today at Womb Within:

Your baby is growing - the first 2 months
How many did you say you have?
Keep those pearly whites healthy during your pregnancy
A welcome gift to Womb Within visitors

News for Today:

Hospitals reusing single-use devices: survey
Woman delivers 2 identical girls, 2 fraternal boys
Drug taken to stop smoking is linked to traffic mishaps
Higher-risk people are shunning colon cancer screens
Hiv patients suffer more from osteoporosis