Photos Online

Although I haven't had much time to write, I have been taking lots of photos and uploading them few by few, onto Flickr. You can browse the photos i've put online here.

Birthday Celebrations

I know I am seriously behind on my blogging. I will get some photos and stories up soon, I hope.

I'm not sure why, but I started thinking about my birthday (October 28th) quite early this year. I was thinking that although I've been in some amazing places for my birthday over the past five years (Singapore, Thailand, Canada, Nepal, Sri Lanka), I haven't really gotten into the spirit of things much. In fact I haven't really celebrated my birthday with the spirit that birthdays are meant to be celebrated since I was a child. I just happened to be in some cool places and enjoy myself, but it wasn't much different from being in those cool places, enjoying myself on any other day.

That got me to thinking - what could I do to make this year special? The idea of holding a party doesn't really appeal to me. It's a bunch of people over at your house drinking and talking - and how is that different than any other weekend except I'd have to clean up afterwards?

I started thinking about my life and what give me joy and what makes my days special and I started to get an idea...

Then, when I went to the big birthday party at one of the local schools, it all came together. My favorite thing to do, the highlight of my week and the time I have the most fun, is when I'm with kids singing and dancing. The best birthday parties I had were when I was a kid and we all just ran around playing and being silly. So this year, my birthday is all about kids and the things kids do: three-legged races, cake, prizes, games and dancing. Lots of laughter and lots of fun.

I think it's going to be really special because the kids I'm sharing my birthday with this year have never had a birthday party before and although they've celebrated the birth of lots of other people, nobody has ever celebrated THEIRS. In fact, sometimes it seems quite to opposite. So there will be 51 birthday cakes this year and a whole lot of joy.

You can read more about the event here including information about how you can participate, if you'd like. You could send birthday cards, stickers, party hats, balloons - anything you think children would love on their special day. The party is on October 31st and if you're in the neighbourhood (which is Thailand), please get in touch for directions.

That's how I come to find myself excited about my birthday for the first time in... well, a long time.