A gentleman never asks, a lady never tells, so I'm not saying how old I'm turning or what day my birthday is, only that it's this week and the Birdy is going to try and take it easy! I emphasize the word try because I never fully take as much time off as I'd like. April is a busy month, regardless of when one is born, and there's always work/life-stuff needing to be done. That being said, this is the extent of my post this week -- I'm celebrating Myself, indulging in some extra time for Me, and sometimes that's the best gift one can receive! See you next week when I'm older, and very possibly wiser!
 
Jaunty Fine Print: Image by Denise Sakaki

Happy Birthday to Me, Happy Birthday to Me, Happy Birthday dear Maggie-Pie... Happy ALMOST Birthday to Me. Let's just call it my Birthday Week, as it's not important what day I turn the dial on another year come and gone.  

The Magpie doesn't usually like to get too personal, but this is a special request for a good friend who's got a lot on her plate right now, getting things figured out, getting her health back on, and just recovering from that crazy thing called Life. And it's also her birthday today, so I'd like to send a message out to the Universe and the internet at large, to just send this good-hearted soul some healthy energy today. 

The need to focus on the positive and keep looking ahead put this Bird in a wishful Mood, so I wanted to list some Jaunty motivational thoughts about how we navigate our lives, and that it's OK when the road falls out from below our feet, because it's not about when we stumble, as long as we get back up every time. If you'd like to leave any messages of hope and goodwill in the comment area to the Birthday Girl, I'm sure she would appreciate it.

Healing may not be so much about getting better, as about letting go of everything that isn't you - all of the expectations, all of the beliefs -- and becoming who you are.
Rachel Naomi Remen

We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Our sorrows and wounds are healed only when we touch them with compassion.
Buddha

Believe with all of your heart that you will do what you were made to do.
Orison Swett Marden

The words of kindness are more healing to a drooping heart than balm or honey.
Sarah Fielding

Storms make oaks take roots.
Proverb


Jaunty Fine Print:  photo by Denise Sakaki

 

Another year older, but none the wiser this old Bird always says come the end of April. I've added yet another candle that gets added to the birthday cake -- no need to get into the gory details, suffice it to say if I actually lit all those candles on a cake, it would be a blazing inferno of doom!

The best gift was one enjoyed over a week ago, when this Bird's family was in town -- a Jaunty mom and her two equally Jaunty sisters. They stayed for a too-short visit that I wish was multiplied many times over, as this Old Bird is also an Odd Bird in the way that I actually enjoy spending time with my family. I don't get to see them as much as I'd like, so having them here is an absolute treat. They've all seen the area several times before, so it was less about being a tourist and more about doing the one thing we all forget to do, even when we are on vacation, which is to truly relax. Do nothing. Seriously -- just do nothing. It's harder than it sounds, but it's sublime when you transition from the nonstop schedule of deadlines and to-do's and just sit for a whole day with your loved ones, drinking coffee, eating baked treats and talking about old stories and the people who inhabit them. You start to feel like you're living in your own life again, and not just observing.

And so this was the birthday gift I doff my J'adore cap to -- just getting away for a few days, even if it was under my own roof. A reminder that you don't need to run away to truly get away. It helps when you have people who will come to you and keep you from slipping back into workaday habits. The best advice I've heard was to never work on your birthday, and while I sadly had to break that rule this year (mine was on a Monday, boo), I feel like I made up for it earlier by unplugging for a few days with loved ones. 


Jaunty Fine Print:  photos by Denise Sakaki