TOW: Getting Older

So it was my birthday last Sunday. 

And like most birthdays, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

Starting with the worst of things:  One of my best friends got embarrassingly drunk at my party and left in the middle of it (while alienating all my other friends), I was both hungover and puking from food poisoning on my actual birthday, and I discovered bed bugs in my new apartment the day after my birthday.

The best things:  I had 14 people come out to my birthday.  And they all wanted to be there and they were all really happy to see me.  I can tell you how much that meant to me.  When I first arrived in Toronto for the first two years, I had the same people come out to my birthday, every time.  And every time, it felt a bit sad because I felt like I wasn't trying hard enough to make new friends.  Now I know lots of people that I can trust and that I care about deeply in this city.  (Even if I don't care deeply for this city.)

I got tons of phone calls and texts.  So many that I couldn't answer them all on my birthday, and so many happy birthday wishes on Facebook it just made me feel really, really great.

I got to sleep all day on my birthday.  It felt amazing.  (Although I was sick as a dog, I still loved it)

A random friend showed up on my birthday to crash at my new place and he brought me food and drink and we had a little picnic in my furniture-less abode.

Overall, it was one of the best birthdays I've ever had.  It had a little bit of everything:  Friend drama, feeling close and loved, a party for many, a party for two, a day of rest, a day of sickness good things, bad things, birthday presents, birthday cake...it was all good.

And all this time I'm getting older, I can only think of one thing:  I like being older.  I like most of the things that being older brings.  I will always miss certain things from my youth, but I think we all miss things we don't have anymore...but generally speaking I'm really happy with the way my life is, and somewhat happy with the direction it's going. 

And I think the key to happiness for me these days is to enjoy the getting older bit, and to treasure the moments as they pass, and I feel like I've been doing a really great job of that lately.

Now if only I could get rid of those bedbugs.