Happy birthday to me
Birthdays are as good a time as any for starting a fresh page. And this year, mine came in with a full moon and a Jewish new year.
If that’s not a message from the Universe to do a little soul-searching, I don’t know what is.
Well, my appraisal goes thusly:
Over the past 12 months, I’ve written 5 posts on design, 12 columns about acting, 82 posts on marketing and god knows how much crap on this blog.
I’ve launched a monthly newsletter, been VP of Membership and President of my Toastmasters club, written 10 speeches and traveled to Portland to drink tequila with my fellow bloggers.
I’m actually too frightened to add up how many hours I’ve worked for money, but I’ve sent out 68 invoices. And some of them were for (gulp) multiple jobs.
I was hypnotized 30 days in a row and wrote about it. I’ve been to Disneyland twice and the ocean once. I watched my friend Mark’s business take off. I watched my friend, Uma, make magic happen from the depths of coma. And then I saw magic happen to her when she awoke.
I consulted with my ex-husband on how to be a good wedding officiant and accompanied my ex-boyfriend and his girlfriend to their bible study class.
I said goodbye to some people I will miss, and reconnected with some others I thought I’d lost forever.
I got really sick. I got a muffin top. I quit acting (not necessarily in that order).
I watched time speed up. Again.
From my vantage point of 46 years (hey! I’m an Elder!), I’m pretty sure there will always be more stuff to do than hours in which to do it. There will always be promises made that aren’t kept, roads not taken and wondered about, other roads taken and rued. With luck and paying attention, there will be less and less of all this as the years pass. At least, that’s how it seems to be trending.
Love the minute you are in right now. Love that pimple on your face (or your butt), love the horrible meal you just made yourself, love the crappy air and the noisy traffic and the terrible drivers. Love your boyfriend and your mail carrier and your crabby uncle and your impossible friend from high school. Love your p.o.s. car. Love your too-small house and your too-big bills. Love your love handles.
Love the piece of shit blog post you wrote just now. Just…love it all.
Because it goes fast.
Super-dee-duper fast.
xxx
c
Photo of my sister, Liz, my sister, Cathy, and me taken by our Aunt Patti last Thanksgiving.
TOPICS: change, truth.
38 Comments, Comment or Ping
Michelle
You are certainly living your life, I’m almost jealous. But I am Loving It … Loving the fact that there IS still someone out there older than I!!! Whew. I was starting to get concerned. :o)
Happy Birthday!! And I wish you many, many more … at the very least two more before my bday comes up in a few months. heh.
Sep 13th, 2007
jenny
hey! you really are a virgo! here, i thought that was just a clever tagline. happy birthday colleen!
(and i see that dimples must be a dominant trait… such a bunch of lookers you gals are.)
Sep 13th, 2007
Curtis M Sawyer
Happy Birthday! Sounds like a full year.
Sep 13th, 2007
dailytri
Oh the joys of getting wiser. A birthday provides great reflection time and gives yet another opportunity to get things even more right than you have obviously already gotten them. Heady stuff. Here’s a loud “cheers” and raise of my glass to your year 46.
Sep 13th, 2007
Mark Silver
Happy birthday, m’dear! As a fellow Virgo but at the other end of the constellation, I just passed mine three weeks ago, and so I join you in the self-reflective/moving forward contemplation.
And, I hope you are enjoying the heck out of yourself this week!
Sep 13th, 2007
brandon
i read jenny’s comment as such a bunch of hookers, and i immediately thought you left a key item off of your list of items from the past 12 months ;)
happy birthday colleen!
Sep 13th, 2007
Tuck, The Rebel Belle
Hey Colleen..thanks for a fun and fabulous post! I can’t remember how I found your blog, perhaps The Personal Development List. And, I’m glad I did. I love the freedom and bold self-expression in your writing….rock on!!
Sep 13th, 2007
Dawud Miracle
Hey Colleen. Happy Birthday. I had no idea. Oddly, I just had a b-day on the 8th. And Adam Kayce of Monk at Work had one on the 3rd. Boy, us virgos, huh?
God speed to you, my friend.
Sep 13th, 2007
jamesfinngarner
Hey Colleen–
I’ve been lurking around your site enough for the past few months, looking for an inroad, and now I have one:
Have a happy birthday!
Sorry if that’s a little pushy.
Hey from Chicago–
Jim
Sep 13th, 2007
Karen
Happy, Happy Birthday, Colleen!
I want to be “you” when I grow up!
jk - I am becoming as much of a free spirit as you seem to be - thanks for being a terrific “role model”!
And I love the domain name you *did* end up with - thanks for the advice at AskLiz!
Bright Blessings for your whole new year!
Karen
Sep 13th, 2007
Cris
Happy Birthday. I haven’t visited for awhile, but I did spend a good portion of your year around here and it seems from my little vantage that you had a fine one. Thanks for sharing. Which doesn’t quite seem right and yet, seems righter than anything. That your birthday celebrates all the stuff you give.
Sep 13th, 2007
Kare Anderson
Colleeen
So wonderful to run into you again via the nsa “Yahoo” and to read your wry, tender and cheeky writing and see your great designs on our site… happy BD! I am going to create a blog/podcast in Dec and would love to talk with you Sept 24, 25 or in Oct re a logo design
- another fan of the communicatrix
Remember the many
compartments of the heart,
the seed of what is
possible. So much of who
we are is defined by
the places we hold for each
other. For it is not our ingenuity
that sets us apart, but our
capacity for love, the
possibility our way will
be lit by grace. Our hearts
prisms, chiseling out the
colors of pure light.
Sep 13th, 2007
communicatrix
Wow! What a bonanza of birthday wishes!
Michelle - I will do my best to squeeze off a few more rounds of HB2ME in the next coupla months. O, what hardship! But for my pals, anything…
Jenny - Virgos never lie! It is against our Virgo natures!
Curtis - It does, doesn’t it? Even my shrink said I have the fullest plate of anyone she knows. Not that we think that’s a good thing…
dailytri - Thanks! I’ll think of you during my new, daily WALK, and raise that glass in return tonight after Nerds.
Mark - I love all these new Virgos I’ve met lately–you, Adam, Dawud…it’s freaky! In a good, neat and orderly way, of course.
brandon - Damn. I’ll have to hit that for next year.
Tuck - Thanks! And great handle, BTW. I do like me a good handle.
Dawud - What great company I’ve suddenly found myself in. Thanks for the good wishes; now that I’m in the know, I can ambush you & the rest of the early-cusp clan next year.
Jim - Yay for birthday de-lurking! Ladies and gents, if you haven’t yet, check out this man’s work. Quality (and quantity) we can all aspire to.
Karen - Thanks, and you’re welcome, believe me. There are few things I like better than to be *asked* my advice.
Cris - Don’t worry, sister–you’ve logged your hours. Thanks! Hope all is well up in SB.
Kare - Isn’t the Internet awesome and amazing?! Would love to talk to you. And that is a beautiful poem. Yours? Someone else’s? HEY!!!! I’ll google it on the INTERNET!!!
Sep 13th, 2007
Frank Roche
The happiest of birthdays to you. This post, and the summary of the year, really made me smile. Continued success and happiness. And remember, we get to have a birthday week once we pass forty (I’m 8 past 40, so I get a birthday month). Cheers.
Sep 13th, 2007
Crabby McSlacker
What an inspirational post–and a busy year!
But gosh it’s hard to learn to love those terrible drivers! (or the love handles, for that matter) Good for you if you’ve managed it.
Hope it was a great birthday.
Sep 14th, 2007
Neil
I hope you have a super-duper year this round. Happy birthday!
Sep 14th, 2007
K
Happy Birthday!
Wow, you had quite the year.
Ups and downs,
but that’s what life is all about.
Wishing you a good one!
(you decide what the “one” is)
Sep 14th, 2007
Mary Ellen
I thought about you so often yesterday…your birthdate is blazed in my brain…but just now getting around to well-wishing. All the best of health, happiness, and peace in this year ahead. Happy birthday, Happy New Year, and happy happy my longtime friend. What a fabulous shot of you and your sisters. xoxo
Sep 14th, 2007
Aunt Patti
Colleen’s Aunt Patti sure does take a great picture, doesn’t she? Maybe that’s because she has so much to work with. HB Colleen! I’ve known you since the beginning and loved you throughout the journey. May our tomorrows be as beautiful as our today.
Sep 14th, 2007
Peggy Archer
Happy Birthday to you!!!
Hope you had a fantabulous (that’s not a word, but still very descriptive) special day!!!
Sep 14th, 2007
claire
I hope you had a molto groovy birthday!
(From yet another Virgo.)
Sep 15th, 2007
Not Fainthearted
Sorry I missed it! May your next trip around the sun be ever more spectacular, filled with more love and surprises and opportunities to use your gifts.
Sep 15th, 2007
Bon
1. All you Colleens look alike. Except the monkey.
2. Yay, you. Live it. Yes.
3. Commenter Karen, get in line!
LYMI,
-Bon.
Sep 15th, 2007
communicatrix
Frank - I am *so* looking forward to my birthday month! Bring on that 48!!!!
Crabby McS - but it is, on the other hand, so E-Z to be in love with your nickname. Yowsa!
Neil - It will be action-packed, I know–this much is sure!
K - I’ve already put in my wish! A lovely year, this, making your acquaintance.
Mary Ellen - and forever emblazened in my brain is a relentlessly cheery MEB, sticking her head in my door, saying, “Hi! Whaddya doin’ for lunch?!”
Aunt Patti - Amen. And then some! Might be time for a…reunion trip to Disneyland!
Peggy - one of my favorite words, and a most appropriate one!
claire - More Virgos! We will take over the world quietly, one to-do list at a time!
Not Fainthearted - You are grandfathered in! Thanks for the well-wishes!
Bon - 1. ha ha–they’re prettier, but oh, well; 2. Yes! Yay!; 3. Don’t worry–you and Keith are toward the front of the list. Really. I swear.
Sep 16th, 2007
vahid
Oh man, I need to check my feeds more often. Happy Birthday + 3 days!
Sep 16th, 2007
Bon
Ooooh, nooooo, CoCo, I meant KAREN (with an N) needed to get in line… because *I* want to be YOU when I grow up! Not KARE (no N). Please, no worries about where we are on the list. We’ll get it all worked out. I’m just so happy already. NO stress.
And all three Colleens are LOVELY. All three!
Number two of my three things remains unchanged. Yes. Yay you. Keep living it. Lovely. XO
Sep 17th, 2007
communicatrix
vahid - You only need to check them more often around my birthday :-)
Bon - In the midst of the 4,692 demands that constitute your daily existence, you still manage to come back here and clarify. *That* is why you are a supah-stah!
Sep 17th, 2007
Jeanne
Hippo birdees to ewe! Celebrate as much as you can, I say!
Sep 18th, 2007
stephen shapiro
Happy belated birthday!
Sep 19th, 2007
Adam Kayce : Monk At Work
Happy birthday, C-trix!
Like Jeanne said, stretch it out! Celebrate for a week (or more)! Make love in a hammock! (oh, that might be cold these days…)
Sep 20th, 2007
ritzy p
Oh happy belated born day!!!!!
Sep 23rd, 2007
DarkoV
I was waiting for the comments to get to 45, before I piled on and wished you Happy 46th, but lack of patience made me do this.
So, I leave it to some soul with the patience of dirt to swoop in on this, my grand idea for the year.
Sep 24th, 2007
annie
I just came up for air and check this ol’ HACK blog! HA.
Happy Birthday you wildly talented wise writer woman. My year’s been better knowing and reading you.
Sep 25th, 2007
annie
I just came up for air and checked this ol’ HACK blog.
Happy Birthday, you wildly talented wise writer woman.
Your words inspire.
Sep 25th, 2007
communicatrix
thanks, annie. I know it was probably a stupid I-hate-this-#%@%-computer double-post, but I’m leaving them both up b/c they are way nice.
Sep 26th, 2007
leahpeah
and one more Happy Birthday from me. xo
Oct 16th, 2007