10 days, no labels

ok, so tomorrow is my birthday. Another year older....wiser? I certainly hope so!

This past year - #40 something....was one of the worst years I have ever endured. I made some of the worst choices I could have ever made in my entire life. And I have no good reason as to why. I have resolved to not let those things happen ever again. So far, so good.

And since it is my birthday, I have made a few other resolutions. My birthday falls just after the first of the year, so I don't make New Year's resolutions...I make birthday resolutions.

This year, I resolve to try more kinds of wine. Usually I get stuck on one, drink it for a couple of years and then get tricked into trying another, and then drink that one to exhaustion. This year, a different bottle every month. Never two bottles of the same wine two months in a row.

I resolve to finally take those last 5 pounds off. Two have gone, but the last 3 are being more stubborn than you can imagine. So, workouts at lunch are now required. The 5 will come off and stay off permanently. I like my lunch, but those last 5 have plagued me for 2 years...enough is enough.

I resolve to say no sometimes. I am a perpetual pleaser. My house may need to be vacuumed, but I will forego that to help a friend pack moving boxes, or stay late at work to see one more patient to lighten someone else's load. So "no more Ms. Nice Guy"....sometimes....if that's ok.

That said, a look back at last year revealed not much of anything. Work, family responsibilities. All the boring things I swore I didn't need back in the younger days.

The only highlight for the entire year was my travel.

While my family is gone on camping trips, I travel. Alone. I take time just for me. I save the money from my own pay checks, and for one week a year, I try to act like just an adult. Not a wife, not a mother, not anything. I am just myself. I don't have any label attached to my existence. So last summer I went to Hawaii. I saved lots of money...lots and lots....and went to Hawaii...alone...for 10 days.

I surfed every day, all week. Rode a moped all over the place. Worked on my tan (it was spectacular!). Got massages. Had drinks by the pool with tiny umbrellas in them, delivered by a man in nearly no clothes. Snorkeled out in the middle of the ocean with wild dolphins and giant sea turtles. Ate more papaya and mangos than should be allowed. Stood on the balcony of my hotel room, naked, at 3am. It was the best 10 days!

I am going to Las Vegas this summer. Now, the husband wants to go too! Acutally he is going because I keep saying I am going, and I wonder if he doesn't trust that I will behave myself there alone! Of course, I will behave, but it's fun making him think I could be naughty...keeps him on his toes!

This year, I will take my solo trip to Mexico - another 10 days of solitude! I have all ready started putting the money away, and my plane tickets are all paid for! Just saving for the hotel - 5 star and totally worth it! I will be a single woman for a week. No lablel though!

Until then, it's work, work, work. Even tomorrow, on my birthday, I will slave for those precious vacations days to be added to my vacation bank! Actually, I could go tomorrow to Mexico and still have hours in the vacation bank, but since the rest of my family won't be gone until August, I shall keep working and being a model employee - making Mexico all the more worth it! I will dream of Margaritas, good surf and no labels.