twenty five.

I really had a great birthday yesterday. Like, really great. The day started off with work, which could definitely be worse because a) I only had to work a half day, b) I like my job and the people I work with and c) the cool people at my office took up a "we-love-Maggie" birthday collection and presented me with a fatty Starbucks card. And I mean fatty. Like I will be good to go with coffee for months. I was so surprised and touched. Letters, phone calls, emails, facebook messages, and voicemails poured in throughout the day as the people who are important to me sent their greetings. I hate being the center of attention and really kind of dread that aspect of birthdays every year, but in the moment it does feel pretty great to talk to all of the people who love you in one day.

I like to spend a little bit of quality me time on my birthday each year, and this year was no exception. Only this year was quite a bit more exciting. I got a kayak for my birthday from my parents and I could not be more excited about it. It's pretty and yellow and I love it. I've been out on it in the ocean nearly every day this week, and an early afternoon jaunt on the kayak with John Legend on my iPod was the best way I could think of to ring in my first quarter of a century. Some of my friends made fun of me for bringing my iPod out there, but I never regretted it for a second. I unloaded that kayak from the top of my car all by myself like a champion and I took to sea for a couple hours (loading it back up was quite another story, but with a few tweaks to the rack and a little more practice I am confident I'll get better).

If you read this blog, you probably already know that I have some very sweet friends. Either you are one of them, or you've read about them enough to know that I think my friends are the coolest. Because it's true. The perfect ending to a wonderful birthday was to just sit around a big table at a great restaurant in town with the people I love - eating a delicious cheeseburger. These are the people who make me who I am, and having (almost all of) them out together, eating, celebrating, laughing was more than I could have wished for. They brought beautiful flowers (peonies, my favorite!), thoughtful gifts, hand written cards, and themselves (despite the fact that game 4 of the finals was on) and I was so touched. And just when I thought that I didn't need anything else to make the night complete, we headed to McConnells where I was treated to ice cream. We definitely go to McConnells quite a bit, but I'm pretty sure that nothing tastes better than really good mint chocolate chip ice cream with friends on your birthday.

So, it was a good day. And I'm officially a year older. Twenty five. And yes. I do feel older. I mean, not really, of course. The actual age difference is slight. But I feel good. I feel energized by having had such a beautiful day, and I feel quite a bit more comfortable in my own skin than I did when I turned twenty four. And I have big hopes and wishes for this year. Lucky for me, I blew that one candle on my slice of birthday pie out with the greatest of ease. So my wishes are going to come true. And I'm ready.