Being Alive

It's officially my birthday again. Hmm. I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with this day. I hate the fact that I'm older and (still) so far from where I always thought I would be at this point in my life—and my biological clock is ticking louder and louder every year. But I also love the idea of celebrating being alive, which is why I started doing something new every year during the week of my birthday. I've been skydiving, tried spelunking, traveled to Ireland for a U2 show, seen the Grand Canyon, and completed my first Spartan Trifecta, among other things. And this year I'm going to hike the Subway in Zion National Park, which I'm really, really looking forward to.

But this weekend I came to another realization—something I've learned before but I seem to need to be reminded of every so often. On Friday night I went to a Zumba jam session, which is where 30 Zumba instructors get together and learn new routines and dance and party for three hours. I went with some friends, and we had a fabulous time—and an even more fabulous time afterward. And then on Saturday, after our regular Saturday morning class (although it was even more of a party than normal), we went to a Zumbathon that some fellow instructors were putting on. Zumbathons are huge parties where a ton of people get together to dance and raise money for something. This time it was for a Zumba instructor whose husband had recently died in a freak accident while they were on vacation. She was there, and so were her four beautiful kids. At the end, after all the partying and dancing was over, there was a tribute to her family. As I stood there with three amazing friends, watching snapshots of her life go by, I was reminded how precious this journey called life really is. And I am so grateful to be here living it.

So even though I hate getting out of bed and going to work in a fishbowl, I'm not a mom, and I have no boyfriend and probably never will, just the fact that I'm alive and able to enjoy dancing and learning and laughing with friends and family is an excellent reason to celebrate—any day of the year.