An Ode to A Cinnamon Roll

Yesterday was my birthday, so, naturally, thoughts of past birthdays and other celebrations came floating by. I can still gleefully see and feel, when I felt most celebrated and loved.
I've spent especially wonderful birth days in Sapporo, Japan, on Isla des Mujeres, Mexico, in Detroit,, Ann Arbor Michigan, in New York, in Kenya, Africa, in Israel and in California.

The day after I always feel a little heart-achy, for another measurable year has come and gone, and I naturally have to account to myself. I bet I am not the only person who does this!

One way I have of giving myself the attention I need to support the accounting, is to discover some comfort food. This helps. Cinnamon rolls are very high on my list, as is Jello, quality chocolate cookies, lamb chops, spaghetti with good tomato sauce - all foods from my childhood. When I got home from elementary school and smelled cinnamon rolls, I knew everything was calm and cool at my house; my mother wanted to bake, and I got a treat. That was a win-win.

I just finished eating one of Starbucks Morning Buns, a fine example of a cinnamon roll.
That was a treat. I guess I'm easy.

Birthdays are really special, for it's simply the day we were born. In my workshops I ask people about this. Some of the stories I've heard are almost unbelievable. Some, who were born near Holidays, have never celebrated their day.

One man who was born on Valentine's Day, now celebrates with huge parties, for the first time. At his childhood home, it was always a national holiday, never his birthday! Another man told me he would never ever eat banana cream cake, again, for his mother baked that for him every single year; it was HER favorite, and she never ever asked him what he wanted. One women knew her father was never home for her birthday, as her father chose to go hunting the first day of the season, which fell on her day. Her mother tried to argue with her in my workshop, but the daughter knew, as she'd lived the pain and the grief of her Dad's leaving that particular day. She felt totally dishonored and abandoned. At least, this adult child really got to tell her mother her truth.

I've given lots of people permission to celebrate, to honor themselves for the day they were born.

I know of lots new birthday celebrators going on around the world. And I still know some who don't want to even know about their birthdays, and I know why, and that's sad for me to hear. Birthdays arrive on time, every year, whether we went them to or not.

So let's pay attention and give ourselves and others the attention we need to mark the day we arrived in our world, hopefully to make it a better place.