Carly's Ramblings Blog - Style

Favourite Birthday Gifts and Moments & Baring Witness

30 Day Blogging Challenge

The Wildcard Round! Today's winner, picked later this week from all eligible entries via Virtual Dice, will receive a Birthday MB!
Tell us about the best birthday you've ever had.

I have a feeling this prompt was used before.... and I can't remember what I said then.... so I will have to consider it again.

As far as favourite gifts... I do remember getting $1.60 in the shape of a sixteen from Auntie Kay and Uncle John for my sixteenth birthday. The money was to be used to buy the ice cream to go with the sundae dishes, long spoons and toppings that they had given me in my present - maraschino cherries, chocolate sauce and sprinkles. I love sundaes and it was an original gift - leave it to my favourite aunt, who is also a teacher, to come up with something so cool and fun.

Funny really, that I don't see my birthday as particularly a 'best moment' kind of thing. It is in January on the 12th... at a time when Christmas is over and done and the new year has started and school has resumed... it's cold, wintery and not the best time of the year, to be honest. You're getting older - how can that be fun?

I think one year I went skating at the ice rink in our neighbourhood with my two best friends.... but I am not sure if that was on my birthday or around the time of my birthday. I remember falling and my mitt caught on the hockey net leaving me sitting there with my arm stuck up in the air and all three of us laughing. It is good to laugh at yourself - and I am good at creating tons of moments to laugh - klutz that I am! They did eventually help me up. This could have actually been my sixteenth or seventeenth birthday because that's when all of us were hanging out together then.

Many of my best moments tend to come in the spring or summer, when life feels lighter and freer.

Blog City – Day 914

Prompt: It's a privilege to bear witness to someone's story when they may not have had the chance to tell it before. Lindy Alexander What are your thoughts on this?

Hmmmm. I am not sure of the full meaning of this, but it gets me thinking of watching Oprah and how she would have guests on who would share their stories - some painful, some joyful, some a mixture of both and I found that in the sharing of these stories the audience and the teller pulled in closer - an intimate bond of caring and compassion. With the sharing also came the knowledge that strengthened our collective experience - a knowing heart getting bigger for having been part of the exchange.

This does happen on a smaller scale as well - when a friend shares a particularly painful moment and you curl in together to provide support and protection of there vulnerable, raw emotions. Shared tears and intimacy that strengthened your bond.

Last year I shared my own story of marital breakdown with my friend. She was so supportive. I was hesitant to tell her because I was concerned my failures would taint her own sad story, but she was strong for me, encouraging for me and in turn and over time she shared her own trials and tribulations that she was wary to share beyond herself in the past. I feel blessed that she was okay with confiding in me. This summer I was able to give her some support with her own concerns... and it made me feel I was able to be there for her like she was for me.... I did not want to be the taker and not the giver and she is not one to ask beyond herself... so this was wonderful for both of us. We have been friends for 40 years! And I am so blessed to know her and have her in my life.

We need our friends - in the good times, and also in the rougher patches. When the going gets tough you find out who your true friends really are and it is life affirming to know you are not alone when those friends rally around you and give their strength when you feel at your most vulnerable.
Humanity really does breath within our world. Don't be afraid to tell your story... search out souls who will be there for you... no judgement, just love.... LOVE. When you need it the most!