after my original birthday plans fell thru, being fancy schmancy at a hotel in hollywood, i said to my husband, “korean bbq and/or camping.”
“but it’s your thirtieth! no way!”
honestly, i’ve felt pretty damn spoiled this year. the first part of the year was like the wedding circus (bachelorette, shopping, wedding, honeymoon) and only a few months have passed since. but of course, i’ve gotta be that girl who does it all in one year – getting hitched and entering a new decade.
i left the plans completely up to matt. he settled on palm springs and said he had some points at the westin that we could use. i knew some of my friends were coming and, once again, after my wedding circus, was totally cool with those that couldn’t make it though i would have loved to have them there. so i packed a bag for this so-called westin and matt, ashley and i hit the road friday afternoon after a yoga class.
a couple of naps later we pulled into palm springs and headed toward the “westin.” if you don’t know me very well, i will clue you in that i can be very, very gullible. we enter the gate and pull up to this little condo.
my response: i didn’t know the westin had condos!
needless to say, matt had schemed like crazy and created this beautiful weekend starting with a rad little house with a pool, a crew of amazing friends who said they couldn’t make it and lots of junk food, dancing, karaoke, swimming and, of course, booze. pretty unbelievable if you ask me.
one of my favorite moments was sunday afternoon, at the very end of the weekend, when i was sitting poolside with three of my best friends and ashley suggests that we should shed our swimsuits. the guys were entranced with football in the air-conditioned living room. us girls were keeping ourselves entertained with cannonballs, mimosas and super trashy gossip mags.
we all looked at one another and came the conclusion:
why the hell not?!
there was so much laughter, so much honesty and lordy, did it feel good to be naked in a pool in palm springs. and the afternoon just turned into naked cannonballs, naked mimosas and naked magazine reading.
we committed to doing this every decade. baring our so-called flaws, embracing our raw inner and outer beauty and saying a big “why the hell not?”
it all goes back to who you want to be. maybe for you the idea makes you cringe, as it did my friend alyssa. but i’m starting to realize that i want reminders of my aliveness all around me. i want to love my sometimes squishy body. i want to celebrate it. i want live so vibrantly and radiantly that on my 80th birthday i strip down to my skivvies and love all of it. i want my babies to rub their little buddha bellies and be proud.
oh, and the tattoo. ishvara pranidhana on my inner left forearm which means “surrender to god.”
or surrender to being naked, vulnerable and alive, which i’m pretty sure is exactly what god intended.
