Birthday Parties Aren’t Just Kids’ Business

by: Tzippi Moss

You don't need an excuse to celebrate, but if you or your friend’s birthday is around the corner, then take the time to create a party that is memorable and lasting with your close circle of friends. With a pinch of creativity, you can make some magical moments!

We all have them. Some of us anticipate them and others dread them terribly. Some make a big fuss over them and others try to avoid theirs like the plague. I'm talking about that event that commemorates our entry into the world - our birthdays.

Do you remember the days when you used to mark them by the quarter and half marks? Sure, back then time had a way of stretching almost endlessly.

Now time is calibrated by the beeps of our cell phones and alarm clocks and organized by palm pilots and Blackberries. Who ever named those devices knew that time flies, but did they forget it doesn’t just grow on trees? As we get older, time moves faster than a cheetah at a race-track. So celebrating life, and our lives, in particular becomes that much more important.

Over five years ago, a dear friend of mine was quite depressed. Both personal and world events were triggering her despair. She had just had a birthday, but it did nothing to lift her spirits. Family members didn’t do anything special, and most friends didn’t remember the day. She felt pretty miserable. More than anything she just wanted to get together with some good women friends and celebrate something, anything that would take her mind off of her dark thoughts. She suddenly remembered that I had a birthday coming up and that the antidote to her depression would be to throw me a party.

I gave her a list of some friends and she took care of the rest. The directions were pretty simple. No talking about work or family, and bring a creative activity to do with the group and a round food to share. "We're celebrating wholeness," my friend said. So we ate cherry tomatoes, chocolate truffles, tuna mousse in a round bowl, and grapes and melon balls. "We're celebrating Tzippi," my friend said.

So they wrote poems, sculpted with modeling clay, sang, and told stories that celebrated and poked fun at me. Mostly we laughed, and laughed a lot. And what we celebrated that night was not just my birthday but our ability to play the way we did when we were kids. In fact, it was even better than when we played as kids because as middle aged women we took less for granted, and that included the most precious commodity of all. "We’re celebrating life," my friend said, summing it all up.

We've been celebrating each others' ever since. Get together with some good friends and celebrate yours. Time doesn't grow on trees.

About The Author
Tzippi Moss is an expert in the areas of imagery, expanding creativity, dream work, stress reduction, and goal setting. She is the author of "A Dash of Soul" and "Real Women Sizzle". Read more about them at: http://www.WomensBirthdayClub.com.

This article was posted on October 26, 2006