a birthday carnival!

This week, RevGalBlogPals turns 8. It's been a fascinating, wild, fun 8 years. We've been busy supporting each other, plotting new things, putting together events, running a website that resources hundreds of people each week, and generally being church for one another (with all the ups and downs 8 years in a community implies!).

So this week at the blog carnival, we are pondering birthdays. It just so happens that I love birthdays. LOVE. THEM. I love celebrating the person and their life so far. I love looking forward and imagining what might be next in the year. I love the presents, the food, the cake, the ice cream, the candles, the singing, the laughing, the whole bit.

In fact, I love birthdays so much that I have taken to saying "October is my birthday." That's right, I celebrate for a whole month. Because you know what? Life is too short not to.

So over at RevGals we're pondering:
1. What's your birthday tradition?
2. If you were blowing out the RevGal birthday candles, what would you wish for us? What's your dream for RevGalBlogPals?

Well, I suppose celebrating for the entirety of October is something of a tradition at this point. :-) Otherwise it's the usual stuff: I get to choose what's for dinner, eat ice cream and cake, etc. My dad always sends me an awesome present. I get a phone call from some friends and family members who sing happy birthday to my voicemail, and I listen to it over and over. Because there's a lot going on for me emotionally, trigger-wise, and in terms of family history around my birthday time, I try to make sure there's an opportunity for all of it--celebrating, grieving, having fun, doing something amazing, celebrating my ordination, etc. Yeah--all in 10 days at the end of October is basically my entire life story.

And for number 2...if I were blowing out the candles, I think I would wish for a community of communities--for a variety of regional in-person groups/opportunities, along with perhaps online real-time communities, in addition to the amazing community we have built on the website, our blogs, and FB. And I would also wish for a website that hosted a long and incredible list of speakers, presenters, and preachers who are available for conferences, so we stop hearing "we just don't know any qualified women." I call shenanigans on that nonsense. I know 400 amazing women who are qualified and ready to have their voice be heard. We could have sermons, shared resources, sample programs, and who knows what else. All backed up by a community of women who truly know each other--and love one another anyway (and show it!). We've had our ups and downs on that front, but it's my wish. :-)

What do you do on birthdays? Do you have any birthday wishes to share?