First of all, congrats to Penny on her birthday! I wish and hope you’ll have a wonderful day ❤️. Personally I believe that today is the best day to have a birthday.

1.  Do you celebrate your birthday or is it just another day?
   
   These days, unfortunately, it’s like any other day. I do get to choose my dinner, eat out at a favorite place and for once my phone is being used for telephone calls and/or FaceTime. I do miss the days when I got presents I got to open and being woken up by the family. I haven’t gotten a physical gift wrapped in years for my birthday. Due to my low income situation I mostly get cash, and the only thing I could need is a better job.
   
2.  Did you have birthday parties as a child?
   
   Of course! They were a lot of fun, especially my 10th birthday party. That one was the best! It was a disco.
   
3.  Were there any special ‘traditions’ for the birthday person in your household?
   
   Besides being woken up by the family in the morning, I don’t think so. These days as an adult we used to have a tradition going to a great restaurant for a couple of years, but they’ve since changed their menu so our favorite things to order there are not available any longer, so now it’s a good meal at home most often instead.
   
   I do remember my classmates having to clean their whole house on their birthday and I always thought that would suck. Even if they were not having birthday parties that day, they still had to clean.
   
4. What was the worst birthday you had?
   
   Probably the one where I had to spend the day in the ER. I don’t remember how old I was, though. Don’t worry, it was not an accident or anything really bad, just some real annoyances and lots and lots of waiting for doctors to come and check on me.

Gratitude:

Life sure is about ignoring negativity, accepting things out of our control, sharing joy, laughter, the love of family and being happy with what I have. In dark times, that’s really what I’m trying to focus on. My life is so weird and it seems like it will never get better at times, but this is a thing to hold on to. I have so many things to be truly grateful for.