How OLD am I?

I remember when I was younger, specifically my 5th birthday, it couldn't get here fast enough. I wanted a Barbie Dreamhouse, nothing could be better, nothing. My birthday happened to be on a Saturday that year so I got to have a small party at my house....oh, how excited I was! Everybody arrived and since it was winter we had to play in my bedroom, about 5 or 6 squealing girls, running around a very tiny house as my mom followed us around and made sure nothing got broken. The dining room table was all decorated with a big cake, colorful balloons, red and blue streamers, it was perfect....Then came the moment to open the presents...the moment I had been looking forward too all day! BUT, there were no boxes big enough to be a Barbie dream house... :( I figured it MUST be in pieces and wrapped up separately to fool me...yeah, that's it...my parents (especially my dad) were always jokesters. I opened up every gift and they were cool, but no Barbie dream house...there was one box left, it was from my grandfather (I knew this box did not hold a Barbie dream house). I opened it up slowly and in the box, there was a pair of binoculars. I immediately burst into tears. BINOCULARS!! What was a 5 year old girl going to do with binoculars?
I look back on this moment now and I can't believe how selfish and spoiled I acted. (I'm curling my nose up right now and making a face at myself).
The day went on and my friends and I had a blast and everything was fine, but at that one moment I felt like my life was in shambles...yes, shambles...over a stinking toy!

Now, I'm facing my 34th or 35th birthday today (I don't keep track anymore, I just know I'm getting older and getting gray hair) The gray hair I noticed over the weekend while I was in a local community theatre play...blast those dressing room lights for pointing so many hairs out to me!

It's funny how presents don't matter anymore, all I want are hugs from my family and smiles and to know that everyone is happy. My middle child gave me a gift this morning. He made a moon in school for me. He explained that I could look at this moon whenever I am sad or scared and think of him and know that if it is night time, he is looking at the moon also and thinking of me. I sat in my car after I dropped the boys off at school and cried. It was the sweetest thing. Small acts of kindness like that are just the BEST!! It also amazes me the amount of friends on Facebook that stop and take time to wish me a Happy Birthday! You sometimes get up in the morning, in a rush to get everybody where they need to go and don't think about how blessed you really are. LIFE IS GOOD! I wouldn't change a thing. Sometimes I hate going to work, sometimes I grumble about how messy the house is, sometimes my kids don't move fast enough, sometimes my husband and I just can't seem to get on the same page, sometimes there is just disarray everywhere, BUT no matter what I have been blessed with a WONDERFUL husband, 3 CARING children, many FUNNY and IRREPLACEABLE friends, a WARM house, ENOUGH money to pay the bills, LOVING parents and, that my friends, is the BEST birthday gift ever!