"Good! You look like a goat!"

I recently celebrated a bigger-than-before number birthday.

You know how some birthdays get noticed more than others.  It doesn't seem to be based on the significance of the number of additional years you have. 

Some birthdays warrant a casual, "Oh, it's your birthday?  Happy Birthday!"  Those birthdays are okay.  Your extra year gets noted, but it's no biggie.  Just one more day, right? 

Other birthdays somehow seem to get marked more.  Maybe you've been in others thoughts more, or the right person remembers and reminds others, or you move away and send address cards and people think about you more.  Suddenly, even though you're only 29, you've gotten scads of presents, you have difficulty fielding birthday calls on the actual day, you get birthday greetings in the form of cards (more work) or e-mails (a little less work) or Facebook Wall posts (the least amount of work).  Your family and friends come up with some really thoughtful and useful gifts that don't even have to be returned.  All of a sudden, you are uplifted above where you were the day before, the past year has been celebrated and the coming year is looked forward to now that you know others are looking forward to spending it with you.

This birthday was in the latter category.  Thanks to all who made me feel so special!