Birthday

I recently had a birthday. It's funny how as you get older, gifts are nice, but you don't really care so much about gifts than friendship.

Each year, I find the meaning of a "special day" more real. In the past I used to get through a birthday, and people didn't really notice - because I enjoyed flying under the radar...  I didn't go out of my way to tell people... and I also didn't want to be expected to eat cake! haha! As somebody said to me, these days, with Facebook, texts, email, etc, birthdays seem more special - because more people take notice and send you a nice greeting. They make you feel like you matter :)

It seems the more birthdays I have at work, the more joy I get out of knowing that people know I care.
I work with a few different groups of people with disabilities. One group is my higher functioning group - the more independent group who have mild intellectual disabilities. Last birthday they made a fuss over me....

This year I was working with a higher needs group on my birthday. The other group see me in passing on that day. They knew it was my birthday...they made sure everybody else knew too!!!
They (with the help and inclusion of some other staff) bought me flowers and signed a card for me.
I remember returning from driving a bus-load of men in wheelchairs to a venue and seeing flowers on the table with a card that had my name on it. I was unsure whether I was supposed to find them, so I left them and went to assist a lady with lunch...

Next thing I know, a few of my higher clients are standing in the hallway...one looking concerned... so I asked her if she was ok...she was a little distressed because the other staff hadn't returned from another room yet.... that's when I knew it was their doing! I pretended I hadn't seen the flowers and went back to meal assisting.

Then suddenly the WHOLE group was in the doorway, and one man said, "We have a surprise!" and lo and behold...the flowers were handed to me, followed by a loud rendition of "Happy Birthday". They caused such a beautifully loud commotion, all the other people in the room were excited and happy!

So, as much as I know these guys care about me... it is so nice and heart warming when they go out of their way to make sure you know they care about you as much as you care about them.

Sometimes it is "the least of these" that really make your day! It makes you feel that what you do does make a difference to their lives.
I love these guys so much...