another year older, many times wiser

so its your birthday and after telling you "happy birthday" what does every mother do but regale you with the story of your birth...so tonight, keeping with the motherly tradition, my momma calls me and continues to retell what she did the night before i was born, but here is the catch: the events of my birth strangely coincide with the events that are happening right now...it was a wednesday night (december 1) and my mother was in labor watching the claymation movie "Rudolph the red nosed reindeer", and guess what was on tv tonight...yes that familiar movie...i was born on december 2 a thursday and this year december 2, obviously on a thursday...kinda funny, don't you think, well my mom and i thought so...

so now as i sit here in my den/living room/dining room, watching my windows begin to cover with frost, i can't help but to think about what all i have learned this past year of my life...
i remember my birthday last year...a monday night, i believe, and a bunch of us went out to dinner at our then favorite restaurant at the time, Calypso Joes, and i turning 21 and all, ordered my first drink, it really did not seem like the big deal that i had thought it would be for so long...little did i know that this new privilege was probably the least life altering thing that would happen all year...
i learned so much about myself in the 21st year of my life, i had thought that i had everything figured out, i knew exactly what i wanted in my life, when it would happen, and where it would happen, and even how it would happen...
if i had to pick the most important lesson i learned this year it would be that no matter how much planning and talking about the future you do, you will never know what the next day of your life holds...
other lessons:

• i learned to listen to myself and do that, not what i thought others wanted from me (a concept that i still struggle with today)...
• i learned that you cannot get through your life without the help of your friends...(i have some of the best friends around, both here in b-ham and others that i grew up with that i have been separated from, there is no way that i could have made it through my trials of this past year with out my friends...i love you all...)
• i learned that your family is always there, no matter how far away you actually are, and they will listen to you laugh, complain, and cry, and when you cry they help you pick yourself up and put yourself back together again...i love my family
• i learned that no matter how alone you feel (despite all the loving people around you) God is always there, all you have to do is be silent just long enough to hear His voice, and if you are listening you will hear it, and it will calm you, and instruct you...i spent so long trying to figure out my problems on my on, until i finally realized that i can't fix my problems, but once i asked for help, it is amazing how quickly they began to resolve, maybe not becoming easier, but resolving none the less

and now as i sit hear listening to Rod Stewart sing "what a wonderful world" on the Tonight Show, the one thing that i am thinking about (well besides, twinkle twinkle little star) is how lucky i am, even when things get tight, my life is still really good, i have a roof over my head, food in my kitchen (however random it may be), and a whole bunch of people in my life that love me...so here is to another year...i hope i learn more this year than i did this past...