Stargirl

Have you read the book "Stargirl" by Jerry Spinelli? If you haven't... I HIGHLY recommend it. I love the book. I love the title character, Stargirl, who is described as, "a new 10th grader at Arizona's Mica High School who wears pioneer dresses and kimonos to school, strums a ukelele in the cafeteria, laughs when there are no jokes, and dances when there is no music."

My daughter and I were talking about this character a few weeks ago. We were both admiring her courage in being exactly who she is and not caring what anyone else thought of her. We liked that she was not swayed by other people's ideas of what she should be. She was true to herself.

We thought it would be cool to get rings with stars on them to remind us to be like Stargirl... to be true to who we really are.

Last week I found two star rings. Mine is purple and my daughter's is teal. It makes me smile when I look at it on my right pointer finger. It reminds me of who I really am. It prompts me to be myself no matter what.

Besides, I like dancing when there is no music.

Birth

I've been around the sun 37 times now. It seems pretty amazing. I blink these days and another year goes by.

I had a super sweet day that began with breakfast in bed provided by my kids. The BEST part was that when I came downstairs after breakfast... the kitchen was cleaned up. :-)

I always take pictures on my birthday with me and my kids. I really had to take pictures this year because they BOTH are now as tall as I am. There is something so surreal about looking your kids in the eye! I can't believe my 13-year old son is this big! (He weighs more than me too!)

And my 14-year old daughter is just as tall. Of course this means she's always wanting to look in my closet... I guess I should be glad she thinks my clothes are stylish.:-)

My mom came up for the weekend to celebrate with us. We all went to dinner at TGI Fridays on my birthday. Then my mom and I went to San Fran for the day and saw "Wicked" again. (Thanks mom for the row G seats!!) It was super special to be able to share the day with her.

More than anything I am grateful this birthday to be feeling better. That's something to celebrate!