Thank you all for the birthday wishes! You really know how to make a gal feel loved. 🙂 I’m going to save more of a recap of my birthday along with my special eats for tomorrow morning’s post. I have a delicious quinoa concoction and frozen yogurt visit to share. I also have the BEST blog gift to tell you about. I frickin’ love my husband!! Tonight, however, I feel like doing a bit of reflecting. On the radio the other day, the hosts had people call in to share what 3 things they would tell themselves 10 years ago. Boy do I have some things I would tell myself!

The perfect man will come along. Don’t waste so much energy fretting over that 8 year on-again-off-again relationship.

I cannot believe how much drama occupied my love life for so long. I can only describe the intensity of it as unhealthy. We basically acted like addicts of each other and I never thought things could be different than the up/down/high/low I experienced with the ex. I would have saved myself a lot of strife knowing someone so loving, caring, and devoted would come into my life. And help me see a better version of myself.

My dad is who he is and I am who I am. I don’t need to try to change him or depend on him for self-fulfillment.

It’s no secret that my dad and I have clashed in the past and was much of what led to my depression, and also my binging past. We get along much better now and much of it relates to the understanding that I can’t try to win him over. I just have to be me and accept him for who he is. Forgiveness goes a long way.

Begin a blog sooner! I love love love love love love love blogging! I wish I had heard about it sooner and gotten involved sooner. Perhaps I would have had a healthier relationship with food sooner and even more amazing friends through blogging. I cannot get enough of this community. And psst…check out www.healthylivingblogs.com to join a new site devoted to fabulous blogs!

Sex doesn’t make you beautiful or worthy. My senior year of college was quite the promiscuous one. If there is one thing in life I could say I regret, it would be this. I struggled a lot with my image and a need to be cared for. In the end, it just left me feeling used and abused.

Don’t be afraid to go back to church. By choosing to return to such a welcoming church full of God’s love, I never felt judged. Others embraced me with open arms and uplifted me in many ways. They motivated me to grow more and gave me the type of relationships I always longed for. I will forever be grateful to my church friends and family for bringing me to a happier place in life than I ever imagined possible.

As much as I know these lessons would have been helpful I can’t say I would change anything about my experiences. I learned about love and the qualities I truly needed in a man through that ridiculous relationship growing up. I went through huge trials with the depression and binging but came out a stronger person with a story to share and a way to relate to others. I more fully value my faith now that I had to grow back into it. And so much more learned through every moment. I honestly wouldn’t change a thing.

• What’s something you wish you could tell yourself 10 years ago? I know you all got some after reading some of your crazy bday stories. 😉
• Any guesses on my special present? 😀

Yep! It’s my birthday. It puts me in a good mood but doesn’t mean anything extraordinarily special. I woke up to a pile of dishes to be done in the sink because I was too tired last night. I was still up before the sun to kick off the day with a bit of productivity. I will still carry about my day as normal with a trip to the store and a kickboxing workout tonight. No big surprises awaited me when I came downstairs and likely won’t later today. I’m cool with all of that though and will still have a pep in my step because its my birthday, even if M threw the world's biggest temper tantrum this morning. And I get fro-yo today. 😀 Which means today’s birthday will likely fall somewhere in the middle of the two below.

MY BEST BIRTHDAY…would probably be two years ago. (picture below is June this year though)

Nothing too exciting happened. A group of our close friends, Peter, & I went to dinner at The Cheesecake Factory together. We hung around talking and laughing for a few hours. It was my first birthday in a long time that I didn’t fret about the calories I ate or judge my worth on how I felt I looked or the progress I made physically the last year. I lived in the moment. Simple, but fabulous.

MY WORST BIRTHDAY…came last year.

We had just finished a dinner at home with my parents and were putting M to bed. She had a high fever of 103+ but we were advised that’s normal for kids her age and to keep it down with Motrin overnight then bring her to the doc in the morning. That advice still irks me. When changing her clothes to put her to bed she got this weird daze on her face. Then her body went limp and we noticed she wasn’t breathing. She started turning blue around the mouth. I was freaking out! Thank God my mom was there and jumped into action to give her CPR. We had to race to the hospital, where we spent the next 4 nights treating our poor baby girl for a severe UTI that she had no signs of and likely would not have been diagnosed at the pediatrician because it is so rare at that age. I felt like the worst mother and cried and cried for fear of what could have happened. In fact, I think that is the worst day of my life so far.

I still get chills and tears in my eyes looking at these. Although the butt one is pretty cute. 😉

To end on a lighter note, I’ll include one humorous bday moment. My 21st birthday was a wreck! It was during my party days and I don’t remember this…but apparently I couldn’t step up into the van cab. I just kept walking right into it banging my shins. Then, on the way home I kept yelling to the driver about how horny I was. Not the proudest moment, but at least I can laugh on it looking back. I can’t believe I just told you that.

• What’s your best, worst, craziest, etc birthday?