Glitter Diaries: 2+25 Birthday Candles
Exactly a week ago today, I celebrated my 27th birthday. I am inching closer and closer to the big 3-0, but for some reason, I do not dread entering the next decade of my life. I have fully embraced my age, and without too much distress, thanks mostly in part to my eternally youthful, asian genes :) However, I do believe that one's youth has a lot to do with your outlook on life.
Since meeting my husband (almost exactly two years ago when I celebrated turning a quarter-of-a-century in NYC with my sister), who is the most positive, caring and selfless person I have met despite going through many hardships (after my mom, of course), I have changed my outlook on life and started to actually appreciate what I have, as opposed to only focusing on what I don't have. I think that this new philosophy has been a major factor as to why strangers I meet tend to guess that I am much younger than I actually am (I keep getting ID'ed when I'm buying a lottery ticket or at the LCBO, and I often get mistaken for an intermediate student by substitute teachers at work).
I say that outlook has everything to do with how you appear because of a conversation that I had with my childhood best friends, recently. One remains in our hometown of Ottawa, and the other moved away to Calgary, Alberta. Our group chat on WhatsApp is affectionately called T.I.T. (the first initials of our names!). T from Ottawa mentioned checking out a new club and not liking it because the people there were "old". T from Calgary innocently asked: "How old is "old"?" to which T from Ottawa replied with "30"... Wait a minute, 30 is old? Being that the three of us are nearing 30, and T from Ottawa is actually much closer to it than we are, we all had a good laugh. The thing is, T from Ottawa still lives as if she is in her early 20's, but I think that this is amazing! She is living life, and enjoying it.
I somehow skipped out on that stage of every typical teenager and early 20-something's life where you partied hard. This was mostly part and parcel to having very strict asian parents, and also, the idea of binge-drinking, and all-night benders never really appealed to me. I do think that for myself, and knowing my personality, I could never really enjoy that kind of lifestyle, whether at the age of 17 (many of my friends were out in Hull/Gatineau, QC, partying at age 16), or at 27. Additionally, for my age, and current situation, my goals for enjoying life to the fullest would probably include more travel to places I have never been (hello, Europe!). Until I am able to freely plan any adventures (funds, and the husband's eventual move to Canada pending), I will just continue to enjoy the DQ ice cream cake that I got for my birthday, a tradition that I've had since 1999 (it's almost all gone), and enjoy the glitter that is all around me :)
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| {Pictured with my big sister at my 2nd birthday party} |
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| {This year's DQ ice cream cake} |
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| {The Swarovski earrings that I have been coveting for over a year, gifted to me by some amazing friends} |
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| {The most perfect birthday card, sent by my lawyer-in-training friend, A, all the way from Vancouver, BC} |
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