Bee is for BLESSED ...: Birthday Surprise!

Today is me and Jay's 32nd birthday and it's actually the first one we've had to spend a part. It feels a little bit strange to celebrate our birthdays in different countries, but I totally understand and support his reasons for not physically being right by my side as I blow out my candles.

He sent me the sweetest email this morning apologizing for not being there with me and promising to celebrate our special day at another designated time of our choosing. He said he always knew there would come a time when we couldn't celebrate our birthday together but he didn't think he would be the one to break our streak =) . As much as I would LOVE to have the luxury of always being able to celebrate our special day by his side every year, I told him that God and life makes it so we have to learn to open up our lives to others so that we can continue to grow. I LOVE the fact that he has been able to find his soulmate (just like I found mine in Mike) and I LOVE that he's taking that next step in meeting her whole family. It's not like he's in Vegas partying it up with his boys or anything =).

So when Mike asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday, I told him I really just wanted to go to the 12:10 pm mass at the Cathedral with my family and have lunch afterwards. The mass was great -- it was officiated by Monsignor Kevin and he even found a way to incorporate Zoe into his homily!!! He said once he saw me and my whole family there he wanted to figure out a way he can include Zoe into his homily. During his homily, he told the church it was my birthday and that my daughter Zoe was his goddaughter. He held her up (of course she kind of cried) and said how excited we would get when she was able to sit up for the first time or when she started crawling or when she started to take her first steps. He said just as we get excited when we see a child growing, we should also be just as excited when we see someone growing in faith. Whether it's going to mass for the first time in years ... or acknowledging a higher power, etc. we should encourage and applaud growth in faith. After the mass, a old lady even went up to me and gave me a plate with Our Lady of Guadalupe on it! I think it might have been my guardian angel in disguise =). After mass we all headed out to Octopus for a nice Japanese lunch.

After lunch, I figured Mike would want to head back to Oxnard since he had work the next day. He kept saying we can stay for dinner if I wanted to and that he was in no rush to go home. For the next few hours, I noticed him, Tita Bot and mom always milling around the computer looking tense. I figured maybe there were up to something and that I probably shouldn't pry since they all looked stressed out. After dinner, I was on the computer and I ended up getting a skype call from Jay! This seemed to all surprise them and everyone ran to the computer. Once the screen came up on Jay's end, all I saw was a birthday cake with a candle on it ... this immediately made me tear up. I then see Jay being lead into that room and he looks surprised not only to see a birthday cake but to also see me on the screen with a birthday cake of my own. We both just look at each other shocked and start tearing up (yes, even he teared up) ... our family on his end and our family on my end all start singing "happy birthday" and at the end, we both blow out our candles TOGETHER! How awesome is that???? What's even better is that the plan was devised by Monica and Mike ... they knew it was tough for us to spend our birthday apart and they figured out a great way to have us still be able to blow out our candles at the same time. It was the sweetest thing ever!!! I really love the our significant others "get" us and have given us a cool new way to celebrate our birthday together whenever we can't physically be in the same place.

I really am such a blessed woman! Yes, 32 sometimes sounds "old" to me ... but then I take a look at my life and all the blessings that make up my life and I am so incredibly humbled that the Lord has given me the beautiful gift of 32 amazing years full of amazing individuals ...