Birthday Blessings

If you want your 37th birthday to look like this, you have to plan waaaaaaaay in advance. It starts before you're even born, when you're a little cherub floating on the clouds. Look down and choose your parents wisely. Choose people who look generous and fun. If they seem to celebrate birthdays and holidays to excess, choose them. (Trust me, when they hire two ponies and a covered wagon for your first birthday and invite 30 kids, you won't be sorry.)

The planning continues before you even enter the public school system and lasts throughout high school. The friends you choose in pre-ballet or in Mrs. Manning's third grade class could be the ones ringing your doorbell on your birthday 30 years later, so make sure you choose friends who are kind and loyal. Once you find them, take very good care of them because they are irreplaceable.

Another very important part of planning your 37th birthday is to choose the right spouse. You have to find someone who is a good shopper, who loves to give gifts, and who has an extremely fun-loving and giving family. If you choose someone who hates parties or doesn't get you a gift because you told him not to, you're doomed.

Then, if you have chosen your friends and family well, all you have to do to have a great birthday is invite them to stuff. They'll come. And they'll bring gifts. I've been opening presents since a couple weeks ago when the Dopp family celebrated the October birthdays at Lagoon and the Kings/Bazails gathered at our house for October birthdays. Thanks, everybody! Wednesday, Emily invited me to yoga, which was a great kick-off to a long birthday weekend. Thursday, a bunch of sisters-in-law and friends met me for a late movie at the best movie theater in the world. Jen paid for my ticket and Audrey bought my treats. Thanks, guys! See, that's why you make new friends, even when the old ones still work fine. More is better when it comes to friends.

Friday, my "real" birthday, (which I share with my nephew, Caden!) I was showered with cellophane-wrapped goodies at lunch with some of my oldest stand-by-me friends, Sarah, Tiffany and Michelle. Boy, did I luck out when I chose them in kindergarten! Thanks, girls. Michelle is one of the few people in my grade in school who are younger than I am, but only by one day. We have always had fun sharing a birthday.

Later, Trajan met Ruby, Free and me for another lunch between guitar lessons. I came home from lessons to find gifts from Tricia and Jim and a delicious tort from Michelle Dopp. Wow! Not to mention a whole pile of carefully shopped-for presents from Scott and my parents. I also scored a big bag of candy from Jennie, whose birthday it is today. Happy birthday!

Tonight, we rocked the ward Fall party, and I still get to go to the opera with my girls tomorrow and continue partying right into Halloween. If you choose the right people to travel the road with, every day is a celebration. And really, why shouldn't every day be a celebration? Which reminds me...Our house, Halloween, 4:00-5:00. Bring candy. You're all invited. Yes, you. You know that, right? Thanks, all of you, for being my blessings.