Photo courtesy of Kidzone

My birthday has finally passed. I almost posted on the day, but I stopped myself. John took me to San Luis Obispo a couple of days before my birthday and we spent the night there. The highlight of the trip was driving down to Pismo Beach to see the Monarch butterflies. There is a grove where thousands of Monarchs migrate to during the winter from Canada. They are soon going to make their way back. 200,000 butterfies were once counted several years ago; Only 35,000 were counted this year. How do they count butterflies? I don't know, but it is sad that their numbers are diminishing.

We arrived at the grove a little late in the day so the Monarchs weren't flying around our faces which is what I was hoping for. We thought that we missed them, but then we finally looked up into the treetops. John and I laid down on a bench and watched them for a while. We were awed by these quiet, delicate creatures that flitted and glided among the branches. They were searching for a good spot where they would cluster. The clustered butterflies looked like leaves quickly flapping in the breeze. It was all quite magical.

My actual birthday was uneventful. I think that I had dreaded the day so much that I chose to ignore it. I've been known to celebrate quite hugely in the past and Jessie said to me, "No more birthday week, huh?" Nope, not this year. Maybe next year since I will be over the whole being in my mid-thirties thing. I actually had a bit of a breakdown on that day where I had to pull over while crying. Only John got to witness this and had to put up with the crazy episode that preceeded it. I don't know what happened and I feel quite silly about the whole thing now, but it happened.

Part of the whole crisis thing is that I do not have any children and haven't had much of an urge to have any until about a couple of years ago. Even then it wasn't an urge but more of an inkling. I think that I do want a child but not yet. I am not ready! (Geez, I'm 34 and not ready. You only hear that from people in their 20's!) There are still some things I want to do, try, accomplish before I commit myself to a child. I basically only have a few years left so I have this sense of urgency to get it all done NOW.

I am the only child of my parents. Their genes either stop here or continue on. It's all up to me.

Oooh, but for the first time in years and years and years, my dad bought presents for me. He used to just always give me cash, but I wanted something more tangible this year. I made it easy for him and shopped on Amazon and then referred him to my Wishlist. I am so excited!