Today is my birthday. When you’re a mom, your birthday tends to cease to exist simply because once your kid is born, the fact that you were born no longer matters.

Thank goodness for husbands, right? My husband is being so thoughtful about my birthday. Last night we lay in bed and he told me sweet things about how today is basically his favorite day ever because his wifey was born. Even if my own birthday is easy to disregard, especially in light of the fact my husband is leaving in a few days and my son is about to turn one and my business is needing more attention than ever and we’re all sick, I’m thankful for a husband who cares and is doing everything his tired, sick self can to make it special.

Yesterday, we had big plans for a special day. We were going to go on a fun shopping trip, eat out somewhere nice, and maybe go out on a boat in Wilmington or the Emerald Isle. Then I woke up in the middle of the night with my very sick husband only to realize that dreaded tickle in the back of my throat was present. Immediately I went into full kick-the-crud mode, drinking tons of water, sleeping extra, stocking up on tissues, diffusing Thieves and using all my immune boosting oils. By the time I woke up, I felt better. Then the baby woke up congested and so I oiled him up too and today we’re both okay. Sleep is helping most and we’re not at 100% but at least we’re fighting it off.

It’s my poor husband who has the raw end of the deal. Almost overnight his command realized that he’s brilliant at his job and sitting him in a corner counting gear is a total waste of his capabilities so they stuck him in a bunch of leadership positions and gave him a thousand extra jobs to do and told him he’s too important to leave. While he is handling it all amazingly, it’s been too much for his immune system (plus he can’t take sick days). He’s worked to the point of exhaustion for weeks and last weekend we hit the extra time off for Easter and he simply crashed. I should have seen it coming because the best way to ward of sickness is prevention, but I didn’t realize how depleted he was and now instead of preventing his sickness I’m stuck with the much more difficult task of getting rid of it.

Alas. At least it’s dreary and rainy outside so the weather matches the way I feel. Somehow being sick on a rainy day feels better than being sick on a beautiful sunny day when you want to be outside enjoying the weather. My husband and I are in the love-the-rain camp–we’ve always preferred storms to sun, anyway, so today is a good day for us. Rainy weather is also perfect weather for soup, so soup it is. On the menu for lunch today was coconut, sweet potato and ham soup loaded with anti inflammatory herbs and essential oils, plus Ningxia Red mimosas because it’s my birthday so I at least have to do something nice. Ningxia Red not only tastes amazing in mimosas, it’s also invaluable for my immune system. Plus little man gets all the benefits via nursing!

Speaking of mimosas, half the people I’ve talked to today who know I turned 21 today have asked me if I’m going to a bar tonight.

Umm, no. 21 is supposed to be the pinnacle of all birthdays–I can legally drink, finally! That’s what everyone keeps telling me, congratulating me on the fact I can finally go order a beer.

And you know what? I am completely uninterested in going out and getting a beer. If I was going to do something “adult” for my 21st birthday, I would go rent a car without hassle. I would check into a hotel and not have to ask for the manager and explain my situation (hi, mom alone here traveling with a baby, please let me stay) because I am no longer under 21. I would get a better home owner’s insurance policy than the one we have which is the only one we could get because we live close to the water and were both under 21 when we bought our house.

Forget going to a bar, I’m just thankful I can stay in a safe hotel with my son when we travel without having to jump through hoops and pull the “we’re military” card just so we’re not immediately booted off our reservation. 21 is a good birthday for me, but not for the reasons that one usually enjoys their 21st. There are many perspective changes that happen when you start young and while I do have to admit there is pride is talking about how young we were when we started out, I’m thankful to have officially entered the legal realm of adulthood.

I am excited for what the next year will bring. It’s going to be the hardest one yet as I’m going to be parenting a toddler alone due to my husband who is quickly approaching the start of months and months of being gone for training before his deployment but I am going to use that time to focus on my building my friendships with the wonderful ladies here and building my business into something that can sustain our family without my husband’s income, partly because I want to know we can live independently if something were to happen to him and partly because I want to have the resources to be stupid generous towards others. I will pour myself into my friendships, my church, my business, my baby boy and traveling all over the world, because why not? I have nothing but time!

Today is the big Two One. Another year older, another year passed. The days drag on but the years fly by, indeed, and the fact that it’s been a year since I was 38 weeks pregnant with my son celebrating my birthday with my dad because my husband was gone is hard to believe. It is a somewhat sobering reminder of how quickly time flies when you don’t hold on to every moment. Also, check out this “I <3 U” birthday cake my husband made with the cutest message written in the Andes mints. Isn’t he the greatest?

My son just woke up so I am going to get him and as I nurse him I’m going to put away my phone and focus on how twenty years and one week from now, he is going to be my age. Twenty years ago, my mom was doing the exact same thing with me and I’m sure this day felt like it would never come but then it did and that day is going to come for my little man, too.

Then tonight we’ll eat chocolate mint cake, the same cake my dad made for me every year growing up, and celebrate how much God has blessed the 21 years (+ nine months, of course) I have been alive.

Happy 21st to me, indeed! I couldn’t be more thankful.