Today I turned 29. Nothing felt special. No birthday cake, no surprises, not even a little “treatment” from my partner. At first, I felt a little sad. Why didn’t he do something special on my birthday? Isn’t a birthday supposed to be celebrated, even in the simplest way? But then I realized, maybe that’s just how he sees birthdays. To him, it’s just another ordinary day. No need for rituals, no need for anything extra. For a moment it felt empty, but slowly I began to understand something. Maybe a birthday is supposed to feel like just another ordinary day. Not a day to be celebrated with noise, glitter, and cheer, but a moment for quiet reflection. With every year added, I should become more mindful, more aware. After all, every year gained is also a year lost from the time I have left.

So instead of asking, “Why wasn’t my birthday celebrated?” maybe the real question is, “What have I done with the years I’ve already lived?” Have I grown into a better person? Have I added to the good deeds that will follow me into the Hereafter?

And then I remembered, I am now a mother. A new mother. Isn’t that, by itself, the most extraordinary gift of all? To be entrusted with a little soul, to nurture and guide, to love endlessly that is something no birthday cake or present could ever compare to.

Maybe the celebration doesn’t come in the form of candles on a cake or gifts wrapped neatly. Instead, it’s in the breath I still get to take today, in the little smile I see on my child’s face, and in the chance to become a different version of myself, a mother.

Reaching 29 years, surviving all the ups and downs, and now stepping into motherhood, perhaps that is the true celebration. Quiet, humbling, yet deeply meaningful.