Barely Keeping Up

My 47th birthday was yesterday and it was pretty darn nice.  My parents always told me that the older you get, the less you really care about celebrating your birthday.  Personally, I have always loved celebrating my birthday.  My Mom would normally plan a party, or as I got older let me plan my birthday party.   My Dad would indulge me with some awesome present that would piss my Mom off.   No matter how much my Dad drove my Mom nuts, though, birthdays were always celebrated in some manner.   If we were with our family in Chicago, we would have a piñata for everyone to break open and we would usually celebrate several relatives birthdays at once.  The Greek and Panamanian side of our family always has big celebrations, any excuse to get together.  It's something I particularly miss living in Florida and we can feel quite isolated a lot of the time.  Not to worry, though! We are slowly building up our community of friends down ...