Raining Petals

Monday, January 2, 2012

My Birthday Project

My birthday is this Wednesday. I have had friends tell me my birthday is hard because it comes right after all the hoopla of Christmas and New Years...so it is hard to remember me or have any celebrating left in them for my day. Haha...luckily my family never told me that and I never felt jipped on my birthday. I always felt special on my birthday growing up. My mom planned and threw me several parties through out the years...all of which I remember and love. On the years that I did not have a party my mom always let me pick one friend (always Katie) and invite them to come along with me to my favorite restaurant. I have souvenir photos from some of these years wearing sombreros and blushing from being sung to by the restaurant staff. I always got gifts even though we just had Christmas a little over a week before. I think that week in between did a good job at separating the "holidays" from my birthday...I never felt like they were interconnected,  a problem one of my friends down here born on January 2nd seems to run into every year.

Another memorable year was when Julie planned and threw me a surprise party when I turned 16. I had always wanted a surprise party and she did it for me!! It took me a long time to get to the party and there was a moment when she was not sure I was even go to show. I am so glad I did because it is such a fun memory and I felt special.

Since becoming an "adult" I have struggled with losing the "birthday feeling". Ya know, the one where you feel like today really IS your day and everyone is being extra nice and treating you extra good and giving you special attention. I would wake up with that feeling every morning on my birthday and carry it with me through out the day. Several years ago I told Josh the feeling was gone. It was sad. Josh said "welcome to the club". hhmmph...I never wanted to join this club.

So...ever since then I have struggled with my birthdays. Even though I am going to be 29 I still want to feel special and like other people see me as such and like celebrating ME just as much as I like them celebrating with me! It doesn't happen as much anymore. I want to be spoiled and be the center of attention...who doesn't?!? So...when my birthday comes and that doesn't happen you might say I get a little grumpy. I just might throw myself a big pity party complete with cake and candles (but only if Josh remembered to get me one that year). So as my birthday has been drawing closer I have kind of started getting myself ready to be disappointed. What a great outlook to have eh? haha...I am such a birthday grinch!! So tonight...when I read my friend Shelby's blog...she linked me to this site. I decided this was a fantastic way to get rid of the grinch feeling and use MY day to brighten the day of someone else..even if it only means putting a smile on their face that wasn't there before.

So friends. I am wondering if you will celebrate with me? The author of the blog I linked you to asked her friends the same thing on her birthday and she got an amazing response. I am going to be dedicating my day to 29 Random Acts of Kindness. I have started making a list...I am on #19 right now. Here is a sneak peek at some of the things I have written down:

#3. Take fuzzy sock or slippers to the assisted living center and find someone to give them to. Have a chat.
#7. Write a note to a previous teacher that did an awesome job and say thank you!
#10. Leave mail lady a treat and a note in the mailbox
#11. Go to Target.com (or any baby or wedding registry) and buy a random gift for a random person off of their registry.
#17. Take donuts and hot chocolate to the Fire Station with a big thank you note.
#18. Take a flower or plant and a treat to the really nice lady at City Hall (where I pay our water bill) This lady is always soooo nice and upbeat. She calls me "sugar" and "girlfriend" and makes going in there to pay my bill a delight. She is someone who brightens other people's days...she should know that!

The lady on the blog I linked to spent A LOT of money on gift cards and such which is awesome...but definitely not something you have to do. Random Acts of Kindness can be FREE...just requires your time. I am going to ponder over my remaining slots and think hard about the last remaining acts I will perform.

Will you join my party? For my birthday will you do a RAOK? It will be so fun and totally make my day if you do!! Leave me a comment to say you are with me! Then come back later and comment with what you did! It will be fun!!! (and rest assured I will be there on YOUR day if you want to do the Birthday Project too!)

8 comments:

Unknown said...

I totally want to do this. I will have ponder hard about what things I can do, but it should be easy in such a place as Memphis. :)
Get those grinchy feelings outta there!
Maybe I will tape a dollar to the redbox machine and say "Here's movie night on me" haha or something.

Kristin said...

I want to! This sounds like a great idea. I am with you on the birthday grinch feeling. But yeah for your birthday too!! I am really glad that you were born!!!!

Alli said...

Tomorrow will be your special day!!! Happy Birthday Laura..

Shelby said...

You know that I'll be doing this one!

Chris said...

Great idea Laura. I'm in.

Emily said...

Sorry, I'm in, not Chris. Well, maybe Chris, I'll ask him.

Emily said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lisa said...

Something I think is really fun is to leave a really generous tip. I learned this from a friend. We don't eat out much, but I am a believer in tipping well, regardless of the server. I love to think about how much it might brighten a servers day to get something unexpected during a long day at work.