Birthdays

Admittedly I love birthday's along with Christmas and any other occasion that brings the family together. Lately I've been wondering about why we only celebrate these momentous birthday occasions over a one day period. (We will leave the wrinkles and the scale out of this conversation)

Some birthdays such as turning sweet 16, your 21st and the big three zero (30) has a big planning session that goes with it for most of us but why are we not treating the in-betweens with as much excitement?

After all, every year we make it through 1-10 learning curves, have some fantastic / momentous achievements along with all the good and bad hair and clothing days in-between. In actual fact we make it through a cycle of 365 days!

So for making it through this great feat should we not get to celebrate every birthday over a minimum of 3-5 days? It does not have to be about making the malls richer but we should be basking in the feeling of "yeah, I made it" for a longer period of time.

I recently witnessed a 2 year old celebrating her birthday over 5 days (can you believe it?). This is how it went:
Day 1: She was treated to balloons and singing when the clock struck 12 on her special day followed by a colourful party, gifts and well wishes for the entire day
Day 2: More gifts and family time
Day 3: Spending some time away with the family
Day 4: A scenic view of Cape Town (this because she said she wanted to see the "mountain table"
Day 5: More time with family at a farm in Franshoek

We should all be so lucky and here's the thing, we can all be this lucky by taking turns in making loved ones and the important people in our lives feel special during their birthday period. Not to be too optimistic, some people might return the favour while others will take a bit longer to catch on but the memories of good times is a lifetime investment don't you think?