Today is my birthday…

Screenshot 2016-06-17 11.51.10

So today is my birthday. Thank you Google for recognizing this today with my personalized search graphic.

On this day, forty-eight years ago in Australia I was born. I was a winter baby, born in the month of June in the southern hemisphere (I’ve discovered I prefer having summer birthdays!). I love celebrating my birthday; getting older has never been an issue with me. Sure there have been a few that I’ve been more apprehensive about than others (my 25th birthday comes to mind), but I’ve always appreciated that actually having the opportunity to celebrate a birthday is better than the alternative.

This year will be another difficult year for me. Not because of my birthday, but because of so many that will no longer celebrate their birthdays because of the actions of gun wielding lunatics. Today, I’m reminded that the joy of responding to my friends on Facebook, texts and emails will not be something that 75 people who were murdered in a mass shooting this month alone, will never have the opportunity to do again. Families no longer celebrating with their husbands, wives, sons, daughters; friends no longer being able to celebrate at a restaurant, home, or at a bar.

So this year, as I hope I will remember every year, I will continue to celebrate my birthday, but I will remember those that were taken from us last Sunday morning in Orlando; those taken from us in Charlotte last year (on this same day); those taken from us in Sandy Hook in 2012; those taken from us in Columbine in 1999; and those taken from us everyday in a mass shooting (75 people so far this month alone; 288 this year).

To my family and friends, thank you for your kind words and greetings. As always, they are much appreciated, and I love you for thinking of me for that moment.