A Year Ago Today - Fifty and the Big ONE....A Happy Birthday....

A year ago today I was celebrating my 50th birthday in Hawaii!  I won't lie - I was totally stressed out about turning 50...:-(  Its amazing how the days turn into months and the months turn into years and then all of a sudden you're "middle aged"! If I'm middle aged does that mean I'll live to be 100? :-)

Half a century, hmmm it sounded rather momentus, monumentally...( to tell you the truth.)..morbid! (please none of this 'you're not getting older, you're getting better crap! ok?):-)

So I decided, rather then sit at home awaiting its arrival, and wondering if any of my friends and family would remember.....or would they throw me a surprise birthday party..........and have those gawd awful black decorations and balloons with old crows and gizzards........on them...and buy me DEPENDS in bulk  INSTEAD...I would take my 3 kids on our first ever Holiday Together and go to Hawaii!

Hawaii had always been a favorite haunt of mine....When I was 17 I took my very first vacation with a girlfriend and we went to Hawaii for 2 weeks........Remember the old Airclub International?...Yep well we took that - visited the islands of Oahu, Maui and Kaui...all for $450 dollars.......you can do the math and  figure out how long ago that was....

Then when I was in my early 20's I visited Waikiki for a week on my way to live in Australia........9 months later...lon my way back home again..... I visted again for 2 weeks.  Later when my son Chris was 4.....and I had just completed my 3rd month in Real Estate as a Realtor, I had made not only enough money to buy a house, but a car AND a trip to Hawaii.....(ahum...yep those were the days! lol).....Chris and I went to Hawaii.........and I'll tell you seeing Hawaii through the eyes of a 4 year old is a sight to behold! :-)

So when it came time to take this 'Special' vacation....what better place to go.....then to Hawaii ???And....an adventure it was!  Once I got over the trying to make everybody happy thing (hmm I'm not sure that ever really happened...).....and with a 22, 18, and 15 year old.....that is no small feat.....we had a wonderful time........and I think those memories will last us all forever..... 

So Sally you'll forgive me if I post some of our Hawaiian Memories? - I'll leave out the Waikiki Aquarium...because you just did a beautiful job of it in your post!

 The Royal Hawaiian - "The Pink Hotel" ...always wanted to stay there - and just when I thought I might be able to afford it - they raised the price on me.......!  But we had a view of it..and Diamond Head.....so what the heck..:-)

The Streets of Waikiki with some of their Feathered Finest!

After a Hike up Diamond Head.....and the 300 some odd steps to the top......I thought I'd died and gone to heaven!  Literally and figuratively - lol........View from the Top.... 

Snorkeling and Hananuma Bay.....

Chris and Sarah Parasailing....

Vibrant displays of Island Culture....

The Polynesian Cultural Centre was one of our favorite places....a day of adventure in the Polynesian Islands.....

Let there be Fire!

Palm Heaven!

Who doesn't love a Zoo - and the Honolulu Zoo is fabulous!

My 50th Birthday Dinner....my three kids, Sarah, Chris and Rachelll.......Restaurant on Waikiki Beach...watching the Sunset as we Ate.....By Boyfriend had flown into Hawaii for the weekend and showed up at the hotel room door at midnight....as a Birthday Surprise...:-)

And so today I am 51....The Big One after the Fifty........How irrelevant AND irreverant those numbers seem..........Of course like everyone else.......INSIDE I feel twenty something..........and sometimes I can even live in that illusion... for a moment that is.........until I walk by a store window and I see my reflection and scare the Living BeJeeBee's out of myself! 

But I'll tell you....This year 4 people in my life passed away.......2 were 51, one was older and one was younger..........AND I can now say to you.......I am MIGHTY Happy to be 51...!  I have had a chance to do much reflecting and soul searching.......and know without a doubt that I am Blessed Beyond Measure.....

So I don't have to wish myself a Happy Birthday......It already is! >-)

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Liz Moras, Managing Broker and Team Leader for Keller Williams Valley Realty, Serving Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Langley and the Fraser Valley.

Call Liz at 604-799-0459 or e-mail at lizmoras@shaw.ca. Be sure to check out Liz's website www.lizmoras.com and blog at http://lizmoras.activerain.com.