Last weekend I celebrated my birthday with a party at my home! Originally I had made plans to go out of town to the Esalen Retreat Center in Big Sur, California. It would have been wonderful but my motivation was all wrong. I had created a distraction so that I did not have to deal with planning my own party. I find it very easy to celebrate others and very difficult to celebrate myself. Now if someone else had planned the party for me I would not have had as much discomfort.

 When I realized I really wanted to be surrounded by friends I cancelled the Esalen retreat and started sending invitations, each person accepting with enthusiasm. The gathering created an intimate and yet festive atmosphere. Good food and lively conversation supported the connection between old friends and discovery of new people.

 I had asked Kelly to create a ritual or ceremony to be included during the evening. She offered a beautiful Native American poem setting a heart warming tone. Each guest was then asked to take items from a basket, including beads, feathers and metallic twine. They created an art piece, infused it with their blessings and prayers and attached it to a specially chosen stick. In the end I received a mobile that now gracefully hangs in my living room, a daily reminder of the love that was offered to me on my birthday.