Birthday Perks

Today is day two of the 30 Days of Gratitude, and today, I am grateful for birthday perks. As a kid, having a birthday on Halloween was always so awesome because here in Nevada, we celebrated Nevada Day on October 31st, so we always had the day off of school. Now, if that isn't a birthday perk, I don't know what is. It probably spoiled me to a degree, though, because as I became an adult, I always felt like birthdays were an excuse to have the day off from work. Unfortunately, not every boss I ever had always agreed with me, and I was denied the request for the day off on more than one occasion. Boo. This was the beginning of the birthday disillusionment, I believe.

Shortly after I graduated high school, the party-pooper bureaucrats in the school district decided to change the day the holiday is observed to the last Friday of the month, so while having a three-day weekend at the end of October is fun, it only falls on my birthday once every seven years or so.

Being a stay-at-home mom of four, with three of my kids already in school, I always think it would be much better if the kids didn't have to go to school at all on Halloween, and we could just stay home spending the day carving pumpkins, watching corny Halloween movies . . . and maybe baking and frosting some halloween-shaped sugar cookies, while frolicking in our costumes until the time came to go trick-or-treating. Is that really too much to ask for on a girl's birthday? Hehe.

So, let's get real for a minute. Growing up is hard to do. Some days, it just plain stinks. Being an adult isn't all bad, though, and it definitely has its perks too. My husband, whose birthday happens to fall eight days after mine, messaged me today asking if I got a birthday email from our favorite (not so cheap) Brazilian steakhouse, that we usually reserve for special occasions - like birthdays and/or our anniversary.

I checked my email, and sure enough, I did in fact have an email from them for $25 toward a lunch or dinner. The best part is that Hubby got one for his birthday too, so he totally gets to take me there for a belated birthday dinner with a $50 discount toward our meal. Score. Now, that is a birthday perk that I can get behind.

Photo credit: The Purple Lady