My Celebration - For Self Portrait Challenge

Today I had a lunch-date with some of my friends. There were 20 of us girls, and four didn't show up in spite of the r.s.v.p.! Still, the ones there almoust put the restaurant's staff crazy, but in a good way.

We all have met in different ways, and we all have different life styles and worklines, and interests, but we manage to find a common ground - even if it's a silly thing like enjoying ladybugs! - and be there for each other, in one way or another (and to think that some of those girls I've known for more than ten years and we still scream a little everytime we get together just like a bunch of teenagers makes it even more fun to be with them!). And, at the end, that's what friendship is all about! Since it wouldn't be fair to post one single picture, I just made a collage, so I could sum up the fun I had with them today.

Celebrating with friends:

But I can't forget the boy who lights up my day. He can be annoying sometimes, but even his annoyances are a particularity of him, and I know it wouldn't be the same without it. So instead of "leaving him", I take him whole, accepting the eventual "bump in road", knowing that even that is an important part of the fun. And, at the end, he gives me more reasons to laugh and be joyfull and feel beloved than anything else. And life becomes a sweet, adorable, celebration, through and through.

(You can tell by the smile on my face that's pure celebration!)

Oh, it's not over yet! There's still one good reason to celebrate. Ten years ago, this very January 19th, I was graduating from college, happy as I could be, glancing at the bright future ahead of me, the whole world waiting for me to conquer. (ok, ok, I won't start the "epopee" of everything that happened ever since, but thinking back about what I've done since my graduation -which, by the way, happened before the advent of digital cameras, leaving me with tons of photos to scan and digitalize - I'm glad with the results of my decisions, even if they brought me some pain along withe the learning) And I don't have any of my graduation photos in digital files, but I promise to work on that!