Today is my birthday—perfect timing for #thankyouthursday, since acknowledging my continued existence inevitably makes me grateful. So grateful!

I am grateful for the big things: I have a job, a home, a family, friends. I am grateful for the little things: a quality Thermos to keep my tea warm, ten-minute meditations, a nice haircut. I am grateful for the things I take for granted: electricity, running water, public transportation.

Yep, I am grateful for all the things, and today especially, I am grateful for tradition:

It’s not a birthday without inflatable cake.
Every year, I can count on inflatable cake.

My family is spread across the country, so it’s not always possible to celebrate my birthday with blood relatives. But it IS always possible for me to receive an inflatable cake in the mail.

I don’t know when this tradition began, exactly, but I believe it originated with my grandmother, and was then likely formalized by my mother. Basically, we have an inflatable cake chain letter—whoever receives it must then send it to the family member whose birthday is up next.

This is a fairly straightforward arrangement, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise when a package from my cousin arrives in early April. (His b’day is at the end of March.) But it delights me all the same, both because an inflatable cake is silly and fun, and also because this year it came with a poem:

Happy Birthday, Christina, this cake comes to say
It hopes you’ll have a wonderful day
So inflate it and marvel at its vinyl beauty
It’s arriving on time and I fulfilled my duty!

Like the cake, the poem has begun making the rounds, with people adding Post-It commentary along the way. I imagine the next time I see the inflatable cake, it’ll be covered in paper—or maybe not! Hard to say what will happen between now and then, which is exactly why it’s so nice to have a tradition like this: a surprise I can rely on.

Love > fear,

Christina

 

 

p.s. Since it’s, you know, my birthday, I figure it’s a good time to remind you of a great gift that’s out there, just waiting to be shared. Telling someone about it would be a great present to me!