My Birthday

Today is my 31st birthday.  Birthdays get just a little bit harder with each year of getting older.  This year was no different.  Every year around this time, I get a little down.  It's no surprise that being away from your family and loved ones is hard, but for some reason, around my birthday and the approaching Christmas holiday, it makes this time so much harder.  John does a wonderful job of making my birthday special, and I am so very thankful for him and that he understands this is a very hard time for me.  Even if I don't seem completely thrilled or overwhelmed with happiness at the time, I know that he knows I am appreciative of what he does to celebrate my birthday.

Having a birthday so close to Christmas has always been a challenge.  I have always felt that my birthday should be separate from Christmas, I should have my gifts separate, my own small celebration.  I have never liked having 'combined' birthday and Christmas gifts.  I never thought it was fair because that is not the case with other birthdays, so why should mine be any different.  Once again, thankfully John has gotten the memo, and he does a great job of keeping the two separate...with the exception of this year.  I will cut him some major slack because this gift simply ROCKS!  I have been bugging, asking, hinting at, looking up various models online, etc.  John got me a new camera, a fancy camera, one with detachable lenses, lots of buttons, lots of features, a beginner camera to learn to take better pictures.  I'm super excited to learn how to use it and hopefully take some wonderful pictures in the future.  I'll let my combined birthday/Christmas gift slide this year, but John better not get any ideas to keep this up in the future :)

Thank you so much to everyone for the calls, texts, messages, emails for my birthday.  Hearing, seeing, and reading all the birthday wishes definitely brings a smile to my face and helps me get through this tough time.

Here are a few shots with my new camera!!