Not counting the years......making the years count!

Birthdays are reminders of many things.  We get cards in the mail, email greetings, FB comments, special phone calls, kisses and gifts and all those things that let us know we are loved and lucky.   We go out for drinks with friends, we sit around a blazing birthday cake and listen to familiar voices raised in song, we go out to dinner and order our favorite foods and maybe even dessert.  
Amid all the hoopla and celebrating and counting our blessings, there's that one moment when we realize that we are now associated with a brand new number......yes, we are one year older.  But, hey, we are celebrating and making merry....so we don't dwell on what that might really mean.  We wait until a few days later to process the fact that the years are marching on and along with that, we are getting older. 
Typically, I don't really give in to all the negativity of aging or the concerns over fine lines and wrinkles.   I am more of a let's cover it all up kinda girl.   I'll happily forget my age, I'll get a new bra and some sassy panties,  I'll visit the make up counter, I'll get a new moisturizer (YES AMAZING!), I'll spend the day at the spa, I'll  get a facial and a collagen treatment and a hot stone massage and a few other diva treatments, I'll do a blog posting, I'll drink a martini, I'll fall in love with a new wine, I'll find a brand new outfit, I'll spend time with my favorite, ultra fun and sweetly young shopping partner,  I'll buy new shoes, I'll spend some time in the kitchen.  I'll make the best of it all and try to have a little fun along the way.   That's how I roll.  I don't really deal with the deep stuff.  In fact, I pretend I don't have any deep stuff.
But, just when we think we have mastered the art of living that lie, something reminds us that we are just as human and deep as the next guy.
For me, wake up calls usually come in the form of quiet inspirations that I don't exactly expect.  They aren't huge, sweeping moments that boink me on my head and tell me to wake up and smell the roses.  They don't come over me after a few glasses of wine and a martini chaser. They don't come in the form of tragedies or striking revelations or amazing moments of clarity.  They aren't thunderous.  They just happen. 
A few days ago I happened upon a quote.....one of which I don't remember the words exactly.  I didn't even spend much time with it.  I don't even remember where I read it.  Maybe it was on Facebook, maybe it was on someone's blog, maybe it was on a bumper sticker...I don't really remember.   Essentially, it said that FUN does not equal JOY.    At the moment I read it, I appreciated it and moved on.    Then, a few days later, while doing something else, it came back to me. 

Have I been too busy looking for FUN...thus never really knowing if I found JOY?

Do I even know what JOY feels like?

Haunted by those questions, I spent the next few hours thinking yet never finding the answers.  

Then, it occurred to me.....I've been looking for a word or a phrase to embrace in the New Year.  

Here it is----  

JOY...getting to know it.  

Pretty deep, don't you think?

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In the meantime, I thought I'd share some pictures from my FUN birthday adventures.....where these moments JOY moments or just FUN?   

Calorie-free food for thought......

Girls night out with my spirited gal pals....Angela and Kate!

Carmen and I kicking off my birthday getaway weekend at one my favorite places...

Heading to the spa on my birthday for a day of spa-ing! 

A fun visit at my son's, meeting our new grand dog and enjoying being all together! 

Waiting for the wine tour bus on our getaway weekend......

Off to find some JOY......in the form of making wedding soup.  

Here's to a joyous SUNDAY!