Celebrate with Me
In case you didn’t know, my birthday was on October 7th!
This year needed some special celebration. It’s been rough. I had hoped that the year would have brought a marriage proposal. Instead, my relationship ended. I had hoped that this year would have brought smashing successes. Instead, it has been a year of soul-searching and revisiting painful memories. I had hoped this year would have been a year of hellos. Instead, it’s been a year of goodbyes — to my romantic relationship, to my dog, to my youngest as he headed off to college.
So, I really needed a way of jump starting my life with an adventure. I wanted to push off from my pain and look for happier places. My friend, Beth, was in a similar position and so we set off together along with our two other besties to Croatia, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. At the beginning of September, we celebrated her birthday — it was a milestone in many ways. And at the beginning of October, we celebrated her 20-year anniversary of her liver transplant. It was wonderful to celebrate my friend!
A few days later, we celebrated me! We started off in Porto at a swanky bar where they used dehydrated raspberries to powder the glass for my drink. I wasn’t sure if it was okay to lick the glass, but I did it anyway. After striking up a conversation with the manager, he offered us another drink on the house because…well, it's my birthday. Next, we were off to Lisbon and went to a fabulous dinner and Fado show. Fado is a type of music specific to the Portuguese, especially Lisbon. It is about longing and loss and usually played with a Portuguese guitar which has 12 strings. You aren’t supposed to dance with Fado, but certainly you feel moved.
Like the sea — it is mournful, beautiful, and powerful. They turned down the lights. Closed the doors. And a singer and a few guitarists overwhelmed me with intimacy and a poignant sadness. The tears flowed — I felt like they expressed all of my pain with their fingers and voices.
We finished the night with cheesecake, a candle, and singing.
And then, the following day, a food tour. Next, back to Madrid for more celebrations and cake! In the end, I felt loved and appreciated.
Do you have something to celebrate? I think the most important thing to celebrate is life. Laugh a little more, dance a little longer, eat that extra slice of cake and celebrate each day as if it’s your special birthday!
If you’d like a way to jump start into a new phase in your life, or a way to celebrate a special day or just life, why don’t you come to Italy with me? We’ll drink, dance, and cry together. It will be magical and it will be fun, I promise!
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