If I have to choose, I think I'd rather keep the record player...

Today is my birthday.

I'm listening to my new record player spin (I know! Coolest bday present ever right?!). I broke it in with a little house of heroes before switching to Dustin Kensrue's Christmas album. It's a pretty good end to a really terrible day, one of my worst birthdays on record. I've been sick all day, you see.

Luckily I've been able to relax at home most of the day. I got some reading, gaming, and Clone Wars watching in, as well as two short naps. You might be thinking right now "wow plenty of time to write!" But I often can't write when I don't feel well. This goes for both mentally and physically.

Now.

In the wake of my birthday party, I'm feeling a little better. Not great, but better. Actually, I think I feel worst right now because I sneezed backwards a few hours ago. I'm still not sure how it happened. I sneezed and I swear my eardrums nearly exploded. Now my throat feels extra raw and my ears hurt.

I'm hoping tomorrow will be a much better day. It would be a shame to lose a perfectly good weekend to illness. It's nice to catch up on my reading and all, but I've got a finished book that needs editing, publishers and agents to seek out, and new books to get to work on. Therefore, this is putting a major hamper on my two only resolutions, to work out more and to get published.

Getting ill particularly on my birthday was not quite as bad as it might sound. I was sort of relieved, because it took all the pressure off of me to feel like I had to do something to commemorate the day. Once I hit 23, birthdays started to lose their edge big time, and with 25, I'm officially ok with skipping the whole thing all together. Not that I don't appreciate the gifts, well wishing, and forty bazillion posts on my facebook wall, but now it just makes me feel old. Maybe I'm just having a quarter life crisis, but when I look at where I thought I'd be at 25 I can't help but feel a little disappointed.

There are so many good, new things that I have to celebrate though, that it seems a little silly to be dismayed. Because I DID accomplish a major goal this time around. I finished a book. In addition, I now have two wonderful little sisters. I have friends, I have family, and a loving God in my life. Maybe I needed this sickness to remind me of what really matters.

I'll give you a hint, it's not my health. It isn't presents, or lemon cake either. (Not that lemon cake isn't basically the best invention since like, ever.)

I think birthdays, more than the new year, are a time when we should be renewing our resolve, looking at our goals in life. What are we striving for? Where do we want to go in life? And most importantly, who are when our comfortable life gets turned upside down?

You may think a terrible cold to be a strange birthday present, but I think the only kind of person who could knowingly give such a gift at the exact right time is the most loving kind of father possible, the one who knows how to give me the exact thing I need.

So thank you, God, for this cold, and for the much needed lesson. And thank you, dear readers, for putting up with this blog. I'm a bit feverish, so please be patient if I was a little tangenty and didn't make much sense. I hope to get to work soon on some new short stories, and I'm also working on chapter 2 of a new book, so hopefully I will have something worthwhile to share soon!!