Birthdays are a fun time for my family. I lived far away from my parents and siblings for many many years. Now that I am back in the hood, we are able to celebrate birthdays as a big happy group. We usually gather at my house for dinner on the Sunday following the birthday. We have a big meal and then just enjoy each other’s company. Sometimes we even play games.

Today we celebrated my dad’s birthday. I won’t say how old he is because he is only just barely older than me. I do believe I am catching up some days. That’s all I will say on that topic.

The kids and I decided to do something different today at the ‘party.’ When every one arrived, we stuck bright blue duct tape on each person’s back with a “person, place or thing” written on it. (Okay, we had a totalyof zero places, but oh well…) It is a common game….each person asks the other people there yes or no questions to figure out what or who they are. We had a wide range of items. A few of them were, Micheal Jackson, Polka dot bikini, race car, and librarian. those were my favorites. Everyone (except S and B) were good sports and it was a lot of fun. Some of the kids liked it so much, they started a second and third round.

At one point, my smallest nephew came to me and showed me his new back title and asked me a question. I don’t remember the question, but I do remember the title. “Kick me” was written on the tape on his back. This nephew can be a bit of a spoiled brat so, I was tempted to just leave the title and ,….kick him, but I am a good aunt. I told him what it said and helped him take it off.  In his credit, he thought it was funny and actually ended up putting it back on himself for a while.

It was a funny thing, but it made me think. How often do I go around trying to ask other people what or who I am or should be when in reality all I am really asking for is a kick in the butt?  None of us should rely on what others think to mold how we see ourselves. We should be able to use that ‘inner eye’ and not only see who we really are, but who we want to become.

I have a long way to go to become the person I want to be but I also know I have come a long way from the person I used to be. Life is a road, a path, an upward climb. People try to tell us what they think we should be or do or even think and if we are not careful, we will lose ourselves somewhere along the path. The danger in that is when we lose ourselves, we also tend to lose our path.

I know where I want to go and who I want to be. Sometimes I need to stop and take the “kick me” sign off my back and rub my bruises a bit, but I always get back on the path and keep on climbing. Just like Miley Cyrus says, “It’s the climb…”……cause I said so.