Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

This entry is really more about my birthday than feeling blue. . . but the sentiment expressed the essence of my epiphony this year. So I included it. I came to the conspicuous conclusion that often when things don't seem to go right for me, it is invariably due the fact that I am neglecting certain obvious and necessary things in my life; like breathing for instance! Too often i like to look outward for the cause of my grief, my discomfort, and my frustration, when it all to frequently stems from myself. So go figure. I'm a little slow, but this coming year I have decided that I will try to remember to "breathe" a bit more!

So for the fun stuff. My birthday. Happened a while ago, but I am not counting down or back the days to my birthday anymore. Just another day, for the most part, but a day to make excuses for special treats. This year's treat was a fun day at the BYU/SDSU football game in San Diego. But not before a mad dash to the San Diego Zoo, where we jumped aboard the sky tram in a scramble to see the polar bears and the snow that was delivered just for them to play in. We sprinted back to the tram and out to the car, grabbed a lightening fast lunch at Chipotle, and made it to the game in time for kick off. Despite threatening dark skys and sporadic showers, we had a ton of fun and frozen feet. Matthew honed in on the puddles that could be found scattered throughout the stadium, and within 5 minutes had succeeded in soaking himself and any unfortunate, although amused, passers-by! And while he provided some side entertainment for several spectators, Alaina was more intrigued by the fancy footwork and theatrics of the cheer squad. (I offer a silent plea for forgiveness, but she does have her agency). She loved the pom-poms, and everytime San Diego scored a touch down they would shoot off the cannons and fireworks. Since that fanfare was only afforded to the home team, she was a lone San Diego patriot among many devoted Cougars! After the game, which saw not a single droplet of rain, we headed to El Torrito with some good friends for dinner. So my day was an enjoyable one. Probably one of the better birthdays in a long while.

And, upon returning home that evening, I had some warm color in my face . The day had awarded me plenty of time to breathe, eliminating the bluish tint that had started to appear there.