There are two ways to look at advancing years in life (aka birthdays): You can view them with dread or celebrate them with joy.
When I turned thirty, I actually cried. I did not want to get older. It seems silly, but I was scared. My family history has made getting older a challenge. You see my fun-loving Aunt got cancer at 39, an uplifting Uncle in his early 40’s… my joy filled mother in her early 50’s, but she had a preventative double mastectomy in her early 40’s… another amazing aunt in her 50’s. (My sister was also diagnosed, but beat cancer. ). I have lost a lot of precious, beautiful souls while they were still young and full of life. So getting older to me has always been hard.
This past year, my 40th, was the year I truly felt was the turning point for all my health concerns. I did in fact get the disease I most feared: cancer. Cancer is teaching me many things. One of the things I am learning is to not dread or fear the future. When I turned 40, my world did not end. When I got cancer life shifted, yes, everything changed, but my future is still before me.
Today, I can’t believe I am saying this: I turn 41! I can proudly look at the coming years and say: this is not the end. I have a beautiful life to celebrate and a future to meet with hope and love. I have the opportunity to not only celebrate the ordinary days, but to watch my babies grow and to stand proudly beside my husband. Gloria, one of the phlebotomists at the cancer center, calls us “the power couple.” I love that. So as I have always said, and I truly mean it now, in this family we celebrate birthdays. There is so much life to look forward to and lessons learned to celebrate… take a breath and enjoy each day… You have a future, a hope, and the joy of a life lived… a reason to dance.
Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness. —Lamentations 3:21-23