A Birthday Retrospective

Ah, it's finally here...the day of Anisa! I love my birthday, and already have on a cute new shirt in my favorite shade of pink from Bert. The new Guster CD is on and keeping me great company from my sister. A gorgeous arrangement of flowers in hues of red, yellow and purple from my parents sit on my desk and brighten the entire office.

I did my yearly ritual of checking my horoscope on washingtonpost.com for the next year. Luckily, it says I will make a lot of money (oh please, oh please!) and have stellar love with an Aries (that would be Bert).

Twenty-five years ago at this time, I hadn't actually arrived. Nope, the five pounds eleven ounces of me would be born after 3pm, CST. All of a sudden, two people had a daughter and I had parents. My dad said I was tiny and looked like a rose.

It's easy to get choked up as you look back on your life. I can only imagine what the next 25 will hold. I mean, I'm a new category on forms. You know, previously I was in the 18-24 range. Now I'll be 25-32. Movin' on up.

Today I want to share random memories of years past. These aren't necessarily the biggest things to ever happen to me, but they are what popped in my head when I look back to certain ages. Here's my retrospective.

age 1...I don't remember, but I know this is when I became potty-trained. How advanced I was!
age 2...I don't remember, but I know I spent lots of time at my grandparents. Ammi and Abbu are the best.
age 3...Sister Sara came along. I had been prepared for her to be a boy. My great-grandmother was standing by me when my dad called and told me I had a sister. I accidentally hit Mama Dean in the nose with the phone. Geez, have I always had such a temper? Guess so.
age 4...I had a beautiful purple dress. I was obsessed with Strawberry Shortcake. I loved Fred off "Scooby Doo" and the movie "Beau Jest" with Ann-Margret.
age 5...Kindergarten! Aaron and I painted with glow-in-the-dark paints at school.
age 6...I was voted "Quietest Girl" in my first grade class. You may all laugh now.
age 7...My stupid assistant teacher and "friend" ganged up on me and told me I was "mixed" and she said it in a way to make me feel bad. Excuse me, my dad is from Mississippi and my mom is from India...and find me one person who isn't mixed in some way. I'm proud of my heritage. I swear if I ever see Ms. Douglas or Kelley again...
age 8...I went on my first diet after Jeff, my 3rd grade crush, called me chubby. I lost 10 pounds and looked stunning in my yellow pants and panda button-up shirt. The diet consisted mainly of giving up Doritos and ice cream for a month.
age 9...I was such the teacher's pet. Mrs. Manuel was my favorite teacher ever. I was the "absentee girl," going around and gathering daily absences from all the teachers.
age 10...I was obsessed with Joey McIntyre from New Kids on the Block.
age 11...The meanest principal in the world called me out in the hall to scold me when I was sitting on a desk in class. Tons of kids were doing it, and our teacher didn't care. I cried and the teacher came into the hall and said to forget about it. He was once her principal and mean to her too.
age 12...I read Night by Elie Wiesel about concentration camps. It made me sad, and I wonder why people still haven't seemed to learn. People still get tortured based on race and religion.
age 13...I moved to a different school and ran for class reporter. I won.
age 14...This boy I had a crush on asked me to dance at the school dance. I had on a dark green dress and lipstick that was too bright.
age 15...Got my car! Deanna and I could've driven around the country. We loved to ride around.
age 16...I had the best Sweet 16 birthday party ever. It was all pink and white, just like I asked.
age 17...I graduated from high school! I read the Pledge of Allegiance at graduation.
age 18...I went to college and joined a sorority. Everything was so new. I kissed a lot of frogs.
age 19...I moved into the dorm and was so thrilled about the freedom that comes with dorm life. I hated Geology lab. Why in the world would I need to be able to recognize rocks?
age 20...I wrote for the college newspaper and developed such a love for writing.
age 21...I bought the cutest pair of white lace-up wedges. They left imprints in my feet when I wore them, but I didn't care.
age 22...A year I would erase if I could. I moved to DC and had wonderful experiences, but this was not my finest year.
age 23...I walked into a house to eat dinner and there sat my future husband. He made me yummy chicken. We talked for hours. I guess we never stopped.
age 24...Married! I had the wedding of my dreams with the man of my dreams. It finally hit me how freaking lucky I truly am. About everything.

Who knows what this year will hold? I hope it's lots of good things. My horoscope says "Couples still have much to learn from each other." I think people spend a lifetime learning from one another. I have learned much from my family, friends and even those of you out there in Blogland.

As I savor the deliciousness of this day, I look toward the future. Joys and sorrows will come, but I will have people to hold my hand along the way. I have people to cry on when I'm sad, and people to celebrate joys with me. I am not alone. I am loved. And that's the best present I could ever hope for.