Thursday 16 January 2014

Birthday Gratitude



Today is my 38th birthday. Outside, the sun is shining on the tops of the hills and cloud is hanging in the valley It is a perfect morning for taking photographs, for gazing out of the window, for smiling at birthday messages. It is a day for being grateful.


Happy getting older everyone xx




6 comments:

Alice said...

From one 38-year-old to another... HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I think you have it pretty much right, in my mind anyway :-) Wishing you a wonderful year. We shall be back on English soil in a month or so, perhaps we will get to meet afterall!

sustainablemum said...

Happy Birthday, from someone who is hideously old!

Unknown said...

I hope you had a lovely birthday! I always console myself by thinking.... in 5 or 10 years time I will look back and think how young I was at this age. It still works even now, a long way up the path :)

Anonymous said...

Oy! Honestly, you. I was going to wish you a happy birthday, and then you come out with a line like "hideous old age", and let's not even get into the numbers.
I hope you can hear the depth of love behind this, because I could gve you such a shake right now (and if you've never been shook by a Bear.. well you can guess)
I truly want you to take that concept right out of your belief system... not even in jest, which simply makes it a stealth prejudice.
You take the most breathtakingly beautiful nature photos, and describe the rich abundance of life with heart opening eloquence - now turn the camera around and take a self portrait, of the real natural you, in your beloved countryside, and start writing a blog post entitled "More Beautiful Every Day". You know I'm not kidding, because you made such a beautiful comment on "Dealing with the Damage".
And how about my own dear Mum (yes, Bears have mothers) who at the age of 74 can still be found on, and occasionally under, the Lakeland fells? (I do mean under - they have a New Years wine and cheese party in the old copper mines at Coniston - how's that for living to the full?)
Or perhaps the Goddess who inspired me to leave those northern hills to cross the planet - she has grandchildren as old as your boys, she teaches ecstatic dance, and can be found on the local beach in a rainbow bikini, when she's feeling modest, or out of it most of the time.
Time is for GROWING, and the more you grow, the more beautiful you become. Write that on your wall, and learn it in your heart. You are growing more beautiful.
OK, I've said my bit. Now go and enjoy another birthday celebration with no fear in it at all, hand have a fantastic, rich, nurturing year... and another, and another, and just don't stop.
Big hugs (I won't shake you)

Selina Gough said...

Oh dear, it seems I am in trouble...that line has more than a couple of people perturbed!

I hope it makes sense when I say that when I wrote it I felt it as a liberation - laughing at myself for my vanity and fear. On that day I felt relieved from of those prejudices, perhaps for the first time.

I think, that maybe i really do grow more beautiful, as I see those around me certainly doing so. So, I hope, no need for shaking - but I'll take the hug.

It's so touching and comforting to return to a neglected blog and find friends still here. It's so good to hear from you Alice, Jill, Bear and sustainable mum.

xx

Anonymous said...

That's better. Never liked shaking people anyway - hugs are better, when they are big enough.

Enjoy your youth!