A second in a series tentatively called: Getting older.

Birthdays used to mean something as a kid. It was a time for you to have delicious cake and ice cream, and invite about a million friends over to your house so that they’d all get you some sort of toy that you mostly didn’t need.

I used to count down to my birthday. “I’m 6 and 5/12ths,” I would say sometime around my sister’s birthday in May. (Remember, it’s all about me when you’re 5 years old. [Also…I was a huge nerd {and still am} for saying 5/12ths.])

This past weekend brought along Martin Luther King Jr. day and a three-day weekend. It also brought with it my 27^th birthday, which my fellow co-hosts helped make a good one for me. While it was good, I can’t help but think how much I’ve changed since I was saying 5/12ths.

Much like with Christmas, gifts aren’t really the reason that birthdays are good anymore. Good friends and fond memories are the only ways to make it good.

For example: This weekend my parents treated me to a dinner of my choice, and I chose Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse (ding!). We went there that night and had a three-hour dinner with just the three of us. There were no cards, no presents, nothing that 5/12ths me would like in any conceivable way, yet it was an awesome evening. In addition to spending time with my parents (who most times are right, and 5/12ths me never would have admitted that either) I got a ton of leftover steak that I fully plan on devouring as soon as this blog post is finished.

I also spent a good two hours catching up with people that I see or speak to nearly every day. I didn’t really know how that was possible, but with fellow host Chris and friend of the show Andy, we were able to spend a couple of hours shooting the wind and reminiscing, along with talking about the future. 5/12ths me would have wondered why we weren’t playing video games and would have gotten bored after about 10 minutes.

I suppose all of us go through these changes as we get older. It’s just a matter of how and when we get there.  I never would have thought that I’d voluntarily eat sautéed peppers and onions for a side dish, or put spinach on my sandwich, but I do and I love it now. I never thought I could have a good birthday in which I received no cards and no presents, yet I managed it somehow.

Thanks to everyone out there that sent the warm Facebook messages (I suppose now that’s today’s birthday card) and thanks to everyone who came out to my birthday get-together (I never said the parties would go away, just the cake and ice cream). Now it’s time to make my 28^th year on this earth a great one.