Happy (belated) Birthday to me!

{My peeps circa 1989 who I actually got to see on my birthday.  We look a little different now.  I no longer sit on my mother's lap.  This picture is also missing a couple of spouses and some at the time non-existant nephews.}

Sunday was my birthday. It was just 5 days after my surgery. 4 days into the wonderful cold I have. My expectations for the day were pretty low. But I have to say, it completely exceeded my expectations.

There are several bittersweet things about cancer and having surgery. One of those things is that you find out who really cares about you. That can be a really sad and depressing thing, which I have experienced a little of. People you thought would be right there with you fall short. I know everyone has their own lives. People get busy. And a lot of times (I think this is the case right now), people don't know how to react.

The flip side of that is that you find out who really has your back. For me, this has been REALLY apparent over the last week.

And that has been totally awesome.

I looked back over my calendar for my 26th year of life and it was really hard. A lot of tough things happened. Some of those I have shared here. Some I have not. One of the things that made it hard was that I wasn't reaching out for people. But what I have really lately is that people have reached out back at me.

So I am starting my 27th year knowing that I have a bunch of people in my corner that care about me a whole lot. Maybe I should have known that all along. Either way, the reminder was a very nice birthday present.

I am hoping that 27 is a much better year than 26. I think it is the year of Natalie. :)