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Writer's pictureRachel Berntsen

twenty-eight


I intentionally wanted to wait to write this post until the beginning of my birthday weekend, which is why this is coming to you on Friday instead of on Wednesday. The picture I've included is from my birthday two years ago while I was in England, because I only took a boomerang of myself holding a Disney princess balloon from my eldest brother-in-law last year instead of an actual picture. As I'm writing this, it's snowing outside, and my heart couldn't be full of more joy at the sight of the snow (yes, I'm one of THOSE people). There's actually a snow/ice storm headed our way tomorrow, and it'll continue into Sunday, which is my actual birthday, but I'm not dismayed in the slightest (except for the fact that church might be cancelled and Peter and I are supposed to lead and I was really looking forward to that lol). Plus Peter told me yesterday that some of the birthday presents he bought for me will be things we can do for fun indoors if we happen to be stuck inside all day, so I'm all set! =D


I LOVE birthdays. It's most definitely because of the way my younger sister and I were raised. My parents really made a point of making our birthdays special. I can still remember some of my birthday parties, though I couldn't tell you how old I turned for all of them. When I turned 7 (which was when I was in first grade), my parents let me invite two friends along for lunch at McDonald's (a TREAT at the time), a car wash (this sounds absolutely ridiculous, but my parents intentionally waited a little while to get the car washed so we could be there to participate because as kids, car washes were super fascinating haha), a ride on the Roosevelt Island tram, and the New York Hall of Science (which was THE museum of choice for much of my childhood). That birthday is the earliest birthday I can remember (I'm not counting the year before when my parents came to my kindergarten classroom with party food and we played duck duck goose and the fastest kid in my class had to pick on my mom because I only remember that from video footage lol). I remember having a bowling party, a party at Kitchen Time Party Place (it snowed that day, so only a handful of my classmates showed up, but we had a blast making pretzels and dancing to the Macarena), and a party at a movie theater (we rented out one of the smaller theaters and watched the Jimmy Neutron movie because nothing else was out, or it would've been a Disney movie, obviously). My thirteenth birthday was my favorite - we went to a place called Q-ZAR and played laser tag. My sixteenth was also a lot of fun - it involved dinner and dancing, essentially, and was the first time two of my worlds (friends from middle school and friends from high school) collided.


As I got older, the parties weren't as big, but they were still great! I had never had a surprise party until I was in college. I remember on my 20th birthday, my boyfriend at the time and one of my best friends walked me to the common room in my dorm. It was completely dark except for a cake with candles on the coffee table. I remember saying, "Aw, you guys..." thinking it had just been the efforts of the two of them (yep, I'm THAT gullible), and then when I walked in, someone hit the lights, and maybe fifteen people jumped up and yelled, "SURPRISE!" I screamed, and then as people started coming up to me and hugging me and wishing me a happy birthday, I started crying, partly because I was touched but partly because I was in shock hehe. That was a pretty great birthday. My 21st birthday was a bit more intimate, with maybe just ten people, but it was still really nice: the day started with two of my girlfriends taking me out for my first two drinks (ever) in the early AM, and ended with one of them hosting a small get-together for me with some of my closest friends.


Nowadays, even though each birthday means I'm a step closer to turning thirty (YIKES), I'm still just as obsessed with my birthday as I was when I was a kid. I still have parties/hangouts, and even though they're not as large as the parties that my whole class attended, they're still fun and even more filled with love. Not only am I more focused on spending quality time with people than entertaining them, but I'm also reminded of just how blessed I am by the people in my life. Tomorrow, I have some family and friends coming over to enjoy some Frozen-themed cupcakes with me (I can't WAIT to see this baker's work! She's super talented, from the pictures I've seen), which is very fitting considering the weather, and on Sunday and Monday, Peter has some surprises up his sleeve. I really couldn't ask for a more perfect weekend.


I'm fortunate enough to be able to celebrate another year of life, and I hope to spend these next two years reflecting on who I am, thinking ahead to who I want to become, and also making sure I take care of bucket list items that are appropriate for someone in her twenties but not necessarily for someone in her thirties. ; ) Here's to being more of an adult mixed with more adventures and musings and a dash of recklessness!


Happy 28th birthday to me!

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