A Birthday is a Special Thing

So it’s Birthday Week around this house…not my Birthday Week (which you’ll come to learn about someday if you aren’t familiar with it yet), but Bob and Smudge’s Birthday Week. For those of you who don’t know or for those of you that just need a refresher, Bob (or Robert as Shawn calls him) is my mom’s Pitbull other wise known as Blogging Bob (oh man is that a story) and Smudge aka The Baby Smudge (as she likes to be referred to by her full name much like The Queen of England) is my English Bulldog. Bob turned 12 on January 20th and Smudge turned 8 on January 22nd.

I don’t know about your house but around here dog birthdays are just as big a big deal as human birthdays and because these were milestone birthdays: Bob’s first without his mom and Smudge turning 8 (Bulldogs only live 8-10years so anytime a Bulldog hits 8 its a time for extra celebration) we tried to make both feel extra special this year. Lucky for Willow (my Black Lab), whose Birthday isn’t till  March, she got to reap in the rewards for just living here. So Bob and Smudge got new toys and treats and extra love and attention and of course their own posts on Facebook LOL. But of course the dogs Birthdays are yet another thing that makes me miss my mom terribly and I’d be lying if I said there were no tears shed in this house as we’ve celebrated. You see, My mom made me look like a rank amateur in the dog birthday department! She always did the best stuff for the dogs on their Birthdays: she’s baked them cakes from scratch, knitted them scarves of their own and always managed to find the perfect toys and treats for them, shoot she even sent them Birthday cards LOL.

Actually, my mom managed to make everybody feel pretty amazing on their Birthday. One of my favorite things she did was if you were Facebook Friends with her she would post a picture of a Birthday Cake that reminded her of you on your Facebook Wall. I always loved seeing what she picked out for people and if you have ever been a recipient of one of those pictures you knew it was always pretty spot on and would definetely make you smile.

Honestly, I don’t know how she did it…how she kept up with all these people. In her death, I’ve come to realize what an incredible impact she had on people’s lives and her relationships with people were so incredibly genuine. She had a group of people she texted every day to tell them she was thinking of them and encourage them in some way (this is probably one of the things I miss most each day), she was always buying little gifts that reminded her of people (and people did the same for her), she had special jokes and days with people (Norma and Hump Day Camels, Shawn and Giraffes), shoot she even had an entire Facebook Group called Gal Pals where she posted inspiring messages to all the woman in her life that she had brought together in one place. And all this, all this was REAL! She did it because she truly cared for people and wanted to see people live their best lives just like she was doing. She was a mother, teacher, mentor and friend to so many. And I know right now people are reading this and nodding their heads YES in agreement.

Now I won’t blow smoke up your back end, it wasn’t always like this…she wasn’t always like this (even though I’m pretty sure she always wanted to be). She lost her way many times throughout her life (alcoholism will do that to a person), but don’t most of us! But she worked hard in the last almost 6 years to become the woman she was when she died. To become what the author Sarah Ban Breathnach calls your Authentic Self (if you are a woman and aren’t reading Simple Abundance everyday you should be). And I for one hope one day I can achieve that too.

I’ve said many times over the last few weeks since she passed…Mom died living her best life, being her best self her authentic self, she was Happy and Content with what she had and where she was, she had learned to accept the things of the past. Knowing this gives me some peace and makes me want to strive for the same. And though she is not here any longer, I know she will continue to guide me and she will always be my example.