27 and going strong

So, last week was my birthday. Birthdays are kind of weird for me now. For my first twenty-two birthdays, I spent every single one with my family. There was a party every year, albeit a small one. There were Barbie cakes, surprise parties, sleepovers, and everything inbetween.

And now, it's just different. A few birthdays were spent in crowded airports. Last year was spent stranded at a hotel when three days worth of flights were canceled. This year was definitely better than that.

But birthdays are hard now. And weird. Like, for example, this year, I got shots on my birthday. No, not the drunken, alcohol-filled shots. The big needle in the arm shots. It was for a good reason...in preparation for my upcoming trip to Africa...but they were still big nasty shots...on my birthday. So my birthday presents to myself were vaccinations against hepatitis, polio, yellow fever, typhoid, meningitis, and a big fat tetanus shot to round things out.

I think birthdays are weird now because nobody here really knows it's my birthday...or really cares that much. Please know that's not a "woe is me" statement...it's just a fact. My friendship here are still new, people just don't know me that well. So my birthday is not the earth-shattering holiday that it was at home.

But having said all that, my Bible study group did sing happy birthday to me...some friends took me out for dinner the day after, and another friend treated me to lunch that weekend. And I had lots of emails and well-wishes.

So, how was my birthday? It was painful, happy, sad, and lots of stuff inbetween.