Today is my birthday. I am now 28 years old.
And ten years ago I was turning 18, running off to the bars in Hull and having a great time with my friends. It was goodbye fake IDs (in Quebec) and hello all night dancing. But even then I said to myself, ‘Eighteen? Man, I’m getting older.’
But today I don’t feel older. I feel like myself, same as yesterday with a pinch more experience, and while there are a few lines on my face that weren’t there ten years ago, getting older is welcomed, very welcomed. Every birthday is a gift.
Anyhow today I’m 28 years old, which is still very young and still oh-so-fresh, and hopefully that feeling never fades. I look forward to many more birthdays and many more breakfasts in beds and many more outings with all night dancing.
🙂 So that’s good news. More good news – my bandages are coming off. Okay, honestly I’m scared for this. Scared to have the sticky sides pull against my skin – scared at the idea that it might reopen my healing scar – scared at what I’ll see after the coverings have been removed.
It’s a big day in more ways than one. A big day for me.
Bumpyboobs ~CatherineBrunelleWrites 
Happy birthday Catherine!!! I wish and I am praying for you to have at least 70 more healthy return of the day!
Take care! 🙂
Beáta
Happy Birthday Catherine!
I agree with your sentiment. Birthdays don’t make you feel any older. It’s a special day to reflect on how far you’ve come and how much wisdom you’ve gained.
I’m sure they’ll do a good job removing the bandages. Today’s hi-tech surgical bandages don’t hurt the way those fabric Elastoplast bandaids used to hurt when I was a kid and just had a scraped knee.
After my surgeries, removing my bandages felt like opening a present, I was curious to see the results. After one surgery, I had “train tracks” over my mid-section (aka staples). I begged my husband to stop making me laugh with his “choo choo” jokes because it hurt so much. I’m still smiling 20 years later. The way they removed the staples a week later was pretty cool too – no pain (yup, I was worried about that, having visions of a giant staple remover).
Even my cat, Odin, ended up with train tracks from his belly up to his chest when he had surgery to re-arrange his liver which had wrapped around his heart. Expected to die at six months of age, my Odin lived to be 17 and a half years old… thanks to train tracks.
I don’t mind my scars. They remind me of fun times when I compared scars with other family members. They remind me of the relief and improved health I got resulting from a surgeon’s skill. They remind me of how my cats are lucky to have their own excellent surgeons. They are part of my life’s story!
Happy Birthday.
I remember reading one Margaret Laurence’s books, can’t recall which one now but I liked the concept she presented about her main character, an old woman who saw herself as all the ages she had even been.
I still see myself as the 4 year old living over the dentist’s office in Pointe Claire who went on long adventures with picnic to the park’s secret jungle so far from the real world but yet in reality just across the street 3 houses down. I am the teenager living briefly in a coal town in England wrong, accent, wrong clothes. The young woman making it through high school hanging onto art & music to get through the trials of living outside Chicago. At 28 I got married and figured out the new role of “the wife” thing. At 36 first daughter was born and changed who I was yet again. At 43 the “wild thing” daughter #2 came along and switched my life around again. This year 50 really cool as I still laugh about what I am going to do when I grow up..my young one thinks I’m weird, thankfully my oldest still sees me as “cool mother” this too will change. I am content, I love a challenge and I have learned to enjoy the ride of life when ever possible to seek out the plus side of what is.
Blessings to you Catherine this day as you evolve into the next phase of who you are in your life journey.
Thanks Sandie, I enjoyed your review of memories 🙂 very nice.
Happy Birthday, you are a very brave young woman and I wish you lots of good health on your journey and many, many more years of adventures. How kind and thoughtful of you to write about your experience and to share it with so many others.
Susan