thirty one.

on friday i turned thirty one. sounds old when i actually type out the words. aging doesn't bother me, though. i fully embrace it. each year--each day--is a gift, and i am determined to not get influenced with society's disdain for passing years.

i was a little unprepared for difficult moments this birthday would bring, only two months after my dad passed. he was always one of the first people to call me on my birthdays... excitement filling his voice, "happy birthday, megs!" he'd say and tell me how much he loved me. "you are now officially living your thirty second year of life" he would've told me yesterday.

i miss those calls.

he always wrote the sweetest notes in birthday cards sent from he and mom. this year when i opened mom's card, tears stung as i saw her signature standing alone on the page. it's the little things that i don't prepare for, that pierce my heart in unexpected ways. yesterday was no exception.

it was a good day, though. full of blessings in the midst of those difficult moments. i woke up to find our school had closed due to snow & ice. perfect. the only thing that would've made it better was if nick had gotten a snow day as well. i crawled back in to bed and slept until bella woke up. we ate breakfast together, i had a special surprise gift from a friend delivered to our front porch, and bel and i loaded ourselves into the car and drove to have lunch with my mom and gretchen and jude. chili's. i always want their chips and salsa when i'm pregnant.

after lunch, bel and i both took naps. which is extremely rare for me, so that was a gift in and of itself! when nick got home, he gave me the most beautiful card (which he knows is always the most meaningful gift to me!) filled with sweet words, a command to go get my hair highlighted (yesss) and a promise that we would go antiquing soon (i've been wanting him to come with me to one of my favorite stores). we dropped bella off at mom's and then he took me out to an indian restaurant downtown i've been wanting to try.

oh.my.deliciousness.

i love indian food. nick had never had it and was a little nervous, but he loves me :) he ended up becoming a huge fan. we had a wonderful meal and as we stepped back out onto the street after our dinner, snow was softly falling. it was perfect.

i have been craving pina colada smoothies from a place at the mall and had some birthday money to spend, so we headed there for smoothies and some shopping. even better? i bought a dress (for after emmy... need to remind myself that my body will be "normal" again one day), a necklace, sunglasses and some earrings all for twenty five bucks. awesome.

our birthday-date-night ended with watching movies in bed, which is one of my favorite things. it was a wonderful day spent with my favorite people... another promise of blessings and joy even in the midst of grieving. god is good. all the time.

onto year thirty two...