As I start this post at noon on my birthday, when miraculously (maybe a birthday god) has allowed both my girls to sleep at the same time and early enough to get a full nap, I reflect on the specialness of today.

I am full of mixed emotions. This year has been rough.

In this year, we found out we were pregnant with baby Butterfly, which was a surprise to say the least. Based upon that, we made the decision to move across country. We moved last summer when I was about six months pregnant.

We ended up moving in with my husband’s sister, which before we came, I thought we were moving into her place… without her in it. Living in a two bedroom place with all of us in one room was not what I envisioned. But alas, being six-nine months pregnant, my son, daughter and us were living in one room.

We put an offer in on a house the day before my daughter was born in late October, and closed a little over a month later. We moved in by Christmas, where we hosted my mother and siblings for a few days.

Then the bills from the hospital for Butterfly’s birth started rolling in… and rolling they still come, including ones that should be covered but are not because of some random lapse in coverage by no fault of ours.

I may be in the minority, but I get excited about checking my Facebook on my birthday. I get many messages from people I know well, to those I barely may, but all warm wishes are welcome! I jumped on only to find out that no one had posted! Turns out, I had turned off my wall preferences.

So, I figured it out, and turned posting on my wall back on. Then I sat and waited. Well, not really, but I did check my wall throughout the day.

People who have wished me a Happy Birthday before anyone in my immediate family:

Rea
Jesse
Ruby
Kristen
Online-sweepstakes.com
OkCupid!
Valerie
and at least 30 other people!

I wish I could say I was disappointed or surprised. But having grown up in my household, where there were two years when people completely forgot my birthday, it doesn’t surprise me.

See, I’m not that person who’s going to kick and scream for your attention. I’m not going to cry or try to make you feel bad. What I am going to do is realize where I stand in your life, how important I am to you.

My sister called around 4… but I’ll give her a bit of a pass since I know she’s up super early about 5 to get to work on time. However, I still managed to be somewhat floored that I got this:

Do you see what time that is? 10 p.m.! Unless it’s an emergency, I rarely take calls after 8 and haven’t for years! Yes, I’m an old lady.

I am too tired to argue. I’m too tired to make a fuss. If after 35 years, I can’t be thought of first, then so be it.

For dinner, we grabbed an awesome po’ boy shrimp sandwich, fried chicken and waffles from Bay Bay’s! They were delicious! I ate way too much!

Overall it was a pretty good day! I guess I should start planning for next year!