Thirty-seven birthday wishes

Today is my 37^th birthday. And the birthday girl gets to make wishes. And I don’t believe in the whole “if you tell anyone your wish it won’t come true” malarkey, so I’m sharing my birthday wishes with you – all 37 of them.

I am truly blessed because I know that I have family and friends around the world who will help make so many of my birthday wishes come true. Thank you, everyone, for being part of my life!

I wish for:

• A year where I am happy and carefree
• Good health
• Good health for my family and friends
• My nieces and nephews to have all of their dreams come true
• Schrodie to be happy with Parker, my amazing nephew who will [hopefully] be taking over service to the cat when I leave for Scotland
• The confidence to know that I’m making the right decisions in my life
• The strength to carry on when things seem hopeless
• The ability to forgive others graciously
• Composure when I’m facing upsetting situations
• Laughter when I can’t stop crying
• Laughter for no reason at all
• Friends who support me
• Friends who allow me to support them
• The ability to laugh at my mistakes
• More empathy and sympathy when dealing with the struggles of others
• My foster daughter to have a bright and happy future filled with love and security
• Children around the world to be safe and secure, without fear of abandonment or starvation
• The ability to be kind even to the cruelest of people
• Patience and understanding in all situations
• An end to wars and strife and struggles around the world
• A world filled with love and acceptance
• The courage to always do what is right, even when it’s not popular
• The enthusiasm needed to succeed in school
• The knowledge and intelligence needed to succeed in school
• The humility to accept my faults
• The esteem to love myself despite my faults
• The acceptance to love others despite their faults
• The health to complete my first [and last?] marathon in October
• The good sense to not make myself ill by pushing myself too hard
• The faith to remember that God is there beside me even when I feel abandoned
• Good fortunes in love and happiness for my family and friends
• Good fortunes in employment and wealth for my family and friends
• My days to be filled with child-like wonderment and laughter
• Days where I laugh so hard that my sides ache
• Good friends to celebrate my joys with
• Good friends to commiserate my sorrows with
• And a windfall of money so that I don’t have to stress about my finances for the next year (Come on, you didn’t think all of my wishes were going to be for sunshine and happiness, did you?)