Don't wait for someone to Bring the Cake!

Don’t Wait for Someone Else to Bring the Cake 🎂

It’s been a week of celebrations in our house!

On Friday, Ian was acknowledged for his years of volunteering and contribution to our community, complete with a lovely lunch, a few official photos and even the opportunity to meet the Mayor of Parramatta. I was SO proud of him. He doesn’t volunteer because he wants recognition (and would probably be quite happy if nobody made a fuss at all), which of course means I feel it is my DUTY to make enough fuss for both of us. 😂

Then on Sunday, it was my beautiful daughter Lisa’s birthday, which meant another excuse to get the family together, eat yummy food, have birthday cupcakes and celebrate someone we love.

Two completely different occasions, but they got me thinking.

Because these days I’ll take almost ANY excuse for a celebration.

I wasn’t always like that.

For nearly 20 years I was a single mum, and when you’re the only adult in the house, you’re the one who makes all the special occasions happen. You remember the birthdays, buy the presents, organise Christmas, arrange the cake, make the plans and remind the kids that something special is coming up.

But when MY birthday rolled around, there wasn’t another adult there to say to my girls, “Hey, it’s Mum’s birthday next week. What are we going to do?”

They were kids. Of course they weren't going to organise it themselves!

So, for a very long time, I pretty much stopped celebrating my birthday.

It wasn’t some big sad decision. I didn’t sit there forlornly on my birthday wearing a party hat and singing Happy Birthday to myself. 😂

It just… didn’t happen.

And the really interesting thing is that after a while, I stopped expecting it to.

Looking back now, I think that for a long time I became a little bit invisible in my own celebrations. I was very good at making memories for everybody else, but I didn't necessarily think to make them for ME. No birthday photos, no specific memories to look back at.

Fast forward to when COVID happened.

Whatever else we took from those strange years, I think many of us learned that you can't always say, “We'll do it next time.”

Because sometimes there ISN'T a next time.

We missed birthdays. Christmases. Weddings. New babies. Anniversaries. Lunches with girlfriends. Family gatherings. All those ordinary little occasions we had always assumed would just roll around again.

Yes, you could celebrate later, but it wasn't THAT birthday. The baby wasn't that tiny anymore. The moment had moved on.

And I think that changed something in me.

Now?

I celebrate.

Give me an excuse and I am THERE. 😂

Birthdays, engagements, babies, anniversaries, achievements, book launches, Ian receiving an award, the Special Ladies Lunch, getting the girls together because we haven't all been in the same room for far too long...

Do we need an actual occasion?

Preferably.

Is it compulsory?

Absolutely not. 😂

Because I've realised that celebrating isn't about throwing a big party. It's about making something memorable. It’s about marking the moment.

Sometimes that IS the big lunch, the cake, the photos and everyone around the table.

But sometimes it's nothing more than sitting outside with a cuppa in the sunshine and giving yourself a few minutes to think about something that's happened.

Something you've achieved.

Something you've survived.

Someone you love.

Something that made you ridiculously happy.

Or simply, “You know what? Life is pretty good today.”

And actually noticing it.

We spend SO much time looking ahead.

What's next?

What needs doing?

What haven't I finished?

What haven't I finished?

What do I need to fix?

Where am I supposed to be tomorrow?

And sometimes we're so busy getting to the next thing that we completely forget to enjoy THIS thing.

I don't want to do that anymore.

I want the photos, the lunches, the birthdays.

I want the Special Ladies Lunches and the family squeezed around the table and the cupcakes and the ridiculous amount of food I inevitably make because apparently, I believe 17 people are arriving when there are actually six. 😂

But I also want those quiet little moments when nobody else even knows I'm celebrating.

Because I've learned something else too.

You don't have to wait for someone else to celebrate you.

That's probably the biggest difference between the single mum who quietly let her birthday slip past and the woman I am now.

If there's something I want to celebrate, I can make it happen.

And so can you.

It doesn't have to be big. It doesn't have to cost anything. And it certainly doesn't need to be something anybody else thinks is worthy of celebration.

It just has to matter to YOU.

So here's my question for this week:

What have you let slip past without celebrating?

Maybe you've achieved something recently and immediately moved the goalposts.

Maybe somebody you love deserves to know how proud you are of them.

Maybe you've been so busy organising everybody else's life that you've forgotten there should be a little space in there for yours.

Or maybe absolutely nothing momentous has happened, but the sun is shining, the kettle's on and you've got ten minutes to yourself.

That'll do.

Make the cuppa.

Sit in the sun.

And celebrate.

And if the occasion calls for cake?

Well…

Don't wait for someone else to bring it. 🎂💕