For most of my life I have gotten really excited about my birthday. I would sometimes have expectations that were too big to fill but for the most part I’ve always had a great time. As I got older, I started to feel that it was decidedly uncool to love your birthday like a child, so I learned to hide my excitement. I’m sure I didn’t do a very good job. My late 20′s have changed that. I’ve stopped caring about doing anything special and it felt like just another day, but at least another day with guaranteed chocolate cake.  I still don’t hate or fear my birthday. I think I’ve done a pretty good job of dealing with aging. Maybe it’s because I look a lot younger than I am – something that used to bother me when I was younger but of course now is something I treasure.  Maybe it’s also partially because of my child-like behaviour… Either way, I’m not sweating birthdays… yet.

I remember when I was a teenager I’d prepare the birthday wish list no less than 1 month in advance. Having a mid November birthday meant that all unfulfilled birthday wishlist items automatically became the Christmas wishlist. It was just efficient, I thought! Then I got to that point where I could buy myself whatever I wanted, and all the things I really wanted were way too expensive to ask of anyone.  This never stops my mom for asking me what I want.  It’s an interesting thing. As a kid I’d ask my mom what she wanted for mother’s day, birthday and Christmas and I’d rarely get a real answer. Every couple of years she would run down her old slippers or run out of perfume and those were easy… but other than that she mostly wanted nothing. How frustrating! Surely there’s something you’d want! Well, now I find myself in that position.

Last year when I turned 30 she bought me and Baron a return flight to NYC as our combined birthday gifts. It was perfect. I’d always wanted to go, flying is very convenient and this way I could force Baron to come with me. I loved it. I decided at that point that every birthday in my 30′s will yield a trip. Lavish, indulgent and maybe a bit much but that’s what is happening… Though I can save up and take these little weekend trips myself, and I could never ask someone to buy me that… so it doesn’t quite solve the problem of what my mother wants to give me.

Since I am taking myself to Chicago (my kinda town), I started to think of things I would want.

So far I have come up with this:

A chocolate covered caramel apple.

Birthday Yum

Failing that, I will gladly take an edible arrangement:

More Birthday Yums

There are a few other things I want like a cusinart food processor, a better blender and perhaps slight more fun, cooking classes. Those things can still get pretty pricey.

So apparently I want either: fruit dipped in chocolate, or things that will allow me to cook. Hrm. Can we say one-track-mind?  I wouldn’t mind getting a wacom tablet, but it’s not a necessity. When I was younger it was so easy to make a list of things I wanted… now even the things I want seem slightly silly. Perhaps I’ve actually succeeded in becoming less materialistic. I’m totally fine to not buy things, to wait it out or at least save up for it.

All I really want on my birthday is this: to spend time with people I love and to have chocolate. Taking a trip to somewhere is really just the chocolate on the fruit.