• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe

Birthdays are the best

July 26, 2017
By Rita Buettner
Filed Under: Blog, Open Window

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Don’t you just love your birthday? You get a whole day to celebrate your birth and your life. People you haven’t heard from in a while reach out because they are thinking of you. You might even have a cake with candles—and you get to make a wish.I love, love, love my birthday, and it just happens to be today. I love all the greetings. I love that my children get excited about it—and that today they are taking me to a secret location for lunch. I love that my husband always tries to make it special. I love that it’s during the summer and that makes it easier to take the day off.

And I love that my family knows how important my birthday is to me. We laugh about how I believe it should be a national holiday.

Every year I’m a little older, of course.

Every year I look at my life and can hardly believe the blessings I’ve been given.

Every year I wonder whether I should have accomplished more in my however many years.

Every year I try to imagine what the next year will bring.

But I mostly feel so grateful, so loved, so ready for whatever will come next. And that’s what I love the most is that moment to stop and reflect.

Each birthday is like a moment where you’re standing at the top of a mountain. You marvel at how you’ve reached this point, and you look up and down and around and try to imagine what will follow.

But it’s also just a moment full of gratitude. How completely marvelous to be given the opportunity to live on this beautiful earth surrounded by people who love us. There are so many challenges, and not every day is full of sunshine and rainbows, but every day is a chance to touch someone else’s life—even a stranger’s—with ours.

What a gift.

Last night I blew out the candles on the cupcakes my mother baked for me for an early birthday celebration—my 364/365th as my husband jokingly called it.

And blowing the candles with me were our two sons. My parents were singing nearby. One of my brothers and one of my sisters, my brother-in-law, three nieces and three nephews had joined us, too. And my husband, whose love for me and our family is absolutely extraordinary, was there, of course.

Surrounded by so many answered prayers, I didn’t even think to make a wish. What more could a birthday girl want?

But what I wish for you is that today—even though it’s not a national holiday—will be a good one for you. Maybe it’s just an ordinary day full of ordinary struggles and joys. But even without streamers and balloons and singing, I hope you can find a moment to feel grateful that you are you.

And I hope whenever your birthday comes, that it’s an absolutely fabulous day.

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

Rita Buettner

View all posts from this author

| Recent Commentary |

Sculpture of St. Rita and St. Therese with a cross and holy water font at the center sits on a table

A Gift and a Connection to the Past

Expert discusses serious harms of smartphones for children and how to limit their use

Cupcakes with 2025 graduation toothpicks in them and a bowl of cookies

Our 31-hour Road Trip

St. Paul and discovering that sin is ‘missing the mark’

Six lit candles on a chocolate birthday cake

Making a birthday wish come true

| Recent Local News |

Father Herman Benedict Czaster, former Curley teacher, dies at 86

Loyola University Maryland graduate ordained Jesuit priest

Sister Ann Belz dies at 88

Archbishop Lori announces clergy appointments, including pastor and associate pastors

DUAL ENROLLMENT

Double the learning: Dual enrollment provides college credit to high school students

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • A Gift and a Connection to the Past
  • Father Herman Benedict Czaster, former Curley teacher, dies at 86
  • Loyola University Maryland graduate ordained Jesuit priest
  • Sister Ann Belz dies at 88
  • Expert discusses serious harms of smartphones for children and how to limit their use
  • Movie Review: Superman
  • Judge blocks Trump birthright citizenship order as part of class action lawsuit
  • Ukraine religious leaders issue ‘desperate cry’ to world to end Russia’s war
  • Pope Leo wears Chicago-made vestments to July 9 ‘care of creation’ Mass

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

en Englishes Spanish
en en