Birthday Bonanza
I love birthdays! I love making a big deal over people on their birthdays. They deserve to be celebrated. I think they beg for recognition, but I know not everyone shares my exuberance, especially as the years pile up. When I was working in Providence, Rhode Island, I received an email calling me “selfish” and “arrogant” and “childish” for mentioning my birthday on the radio. Actually, it doesn’t matter to me if anyone outside my family remembers my birthday; I will still celebrate every April 7th. I even pamper myself with a few gifts (in 2012, a dog and a plane ticket). Surviving another year on this planet is nothing short of a miracle.
When we’re kids, birthdays equal attention, parties, cake, and presents. While I still enjoy all of those things (especially cake), they’re no longer necessary for a proper celebration. On my birthday last weekend, I saw no one except a few colleagues at work and the woman who handed me my special take-out dinner. Ha! It was a quiet birthday, probably the most low-key birthday I’ve ever had. Phone calls, text messages, Facebook & twitter greetings galore, but no fanfare; and I wouldn’t change a thing. This birthday was special in other ways: a symbolic slam of a door behind me and a giant step toward the future.
For many reasons I don’t care to revisit, 2011 was the most challeging and difficult year of my adult life. Personally, professionally, emotionally, and spiritually; no part of my world was untouched or unquestioned. My birthday was an opportunity to pause, turn around, and appreciate how far I’ve come in the first few months of 2012. It’s the last time I’ll ever look back; that part of my life is now dead and gone. I’m thankful for the valuable lessons learned; but honestly, I’m more thankful to have last year in my rearview mirror. That’s worth celebrating!
Life is hard. Sometimes I wonder how we survive and advance. It can feel like navigating a minefield. Natural disasters, health crises, death of loved ones, mounting financial pressures, job stresses, family conflicts, personal failures – we all go through them. To face those challenges head-on and emerge with your blood pressure stable and sanity intact is no small feat. To cling to hope in the face of despair and believe despite all odds requires supreme effort. But to know God lends His strength and company in the midst of darkness is invaluable. And to finally reach the bright light at the end of the tunnel is priceless. That’s worth celebrating!
To get wiser as we get older is both a blessing and a curse. When friends joke about how “old” I am, I immediately point out I wouldn’t go back to my 20s for all the money in the world. Boy, was I stupid! Ha! I caused myself (and others) a lot of extra stress and heartache with my poor decisions. Understanding the magnitude of those choices and living with regret is the curse that comes with age. But there’s greater blessing in the knowledge I never have to repeat those mistakes — in the knowledge that every new day and every new year is a chance to get it right. That’s also worth celebrating!
Despite marking my birthday with very little pomp and circumstance, I couldn’t ask for more than the peace in my heart, excitement and anticipation for the future, and another year to develop into the woman God’s called me to be. Happy Birthday indeed!
Play by Play Day by Day with Amy Lawrence 
April 10, 2012 at 1:53 pm
thanks for keeping us smiling, while things were not good for you Amy. That’s not easy.
April 10, 2012 at 2:02 pm
As they say, some people are givers and some are takers. You, Amy, are a giver. Keep up the good work. And don’t let your extreme critics get you down, Happy new year.
April 10, 2012 at 3:50 pm
So very proud of you…always and forever! M
April 11, 2012 at 3:02 am
Great post. I thoroughly enjoyed it. This year was a tough one for me as well and I find myself being pushed daily.
There’s a book I read recently called “Ignore Everybody” by Hugh Macleod. It’s an ray read and I think you’ll dig his humor.
Glad to find your blog. New fan.
-j
April 11, 2012 at 10:01 am
Delete the negative. Keep the positive. It’s a good ego boost.
April 11, 2012 at 3:11 pm
Are you seriously telling me that NOBODY leaves you an comments that are less than 100% positive?
Why not leave some negative comments for your readers to see?
If this blog is meant to reflect your life it would seem you would have us believe that nobody ever criticizes you or has a differing opinion than yours.
Are you that big a terror that people are afraid to disagree with you? Or are you just so sensitive you can’t handle it?
April 11, 2012 at 9:14 pm
I don’t see you as a person who would edit anything out. The good or the bad. I love reading your blog. Happy Belated Birthday. Glad to see you survived the year. Here is to the Future Years.
Take care
DAN
April 11, 2012 at 10:01 pm
Can I make a suggestion?
Write a real blog. Sit down and just write an unscripted, real life, off the top of your head blog entry.
You certainly seem to have something to say of interest but your writing style is painfully rehearsed.
Sit at your keyboard and free write whatever comes to mind. Don’t worry about rewriting, revising, and correcting mistakes. Just tell us who Amy Lawrence is. Not the Amy Lawrence that takes hours and days slaving away to have her posts perfect in style, content, context, and grammatically flawless.
Tell us about Amy. Tell us about you. You can call a basketball game, vamp about the latest breaking story, and relate the latest news without practice and repetition. So write a blog that way. We come here to read about your life. Not read perfect prose.
Let your hair down a bit, Amy. Give us a first draft, off the top of your head entry with the warts and hairs still on it.
Let loose and have fun for just one entry. Please.
April 12, 2012 at 1:19 pm
You just keep on celebrating the many birthdays and special days ahead for you and your career. Talent will always bring out the critics.You are a #Winner.
April 14, 2012 at 12:51 am
Okay, first off I want to address Always Vigil Says: please take your jealously and negativity away. A blog is what a person wants to post not what you want them to post. If you dont like the blog then dont read it and damn sure dont come back. Now I dont know Amy, I am in fact from NC, but I listen to her every weekend on ESPN Radio and have just stumbled upon this blog. I have read all entries and now feel like i know her. So please take your pettiness somewhere else in all due respect.
Now to you my dear Amy Lawerance. I too have had two terrible and forgettable years. It also has been both personally and professoinally affected, I too have made mistakes that I now will forever learn from. I not only think you are great at what you do I also think you are a cutie also 🙂 We both love all the same teams, except for the Broncos? Come on its gotta be the Pats lol. Anyways I am in your corner and wish you the best!
April 14, 2012 at 10:28 am
Hi, Stephen.
Thanks for taking the time to read my blog (all the entries – wow!) and respond. I appreciate your kind words. Glad to hear you’re putting the tough times behind and moving forward! That’s the key – keep going even when you can’t see the light or the end of a tunnel. Eventually, breakthrough!
By the way, you’re not the first who’s tried to convert me to a Patriots fan. I promise you, it won’t work! Broncos fan since I was a teen-ager and just discovering sports. Can’t wait to see what happens with Peyton this year!
Thanks again for your note. I always link my blog entries to Facebook & Twitter if you want to find me there.
Sincerely,
Amy
April 14, 2012 at 2:34 pm
Got a kick out of your reply to Stephen’s encouraging post, which did a nice job of responding to the negative “Always Vigil.” Right on, Stephen and Amy.
As for my teams, growing up in Pittsburgh, one has to be a lifelong Steelers fan regardless of current residence. I’m a Celtics fan, too. But mainly a fan of the Boston teams of Cigar Red, Bill Russell, Hondo Havlicek, Sam and KC Jones, Ramsay, Cooz, Cowens, Bird, McHale, Chief, etc. Not so much of the present crew.
And in baseball, it’s hard to beat the Big Red Machine of the 1070s, arguably the best nine ever assembled. And the Buccos’ Roberto “the great one” Clemene was an idol for me growing up in the Burgh. The Pirates were once a terrific franchise.
Okay, I live in the past, but not quite all the time.
Today’s Reds are fighting an uphill battle against the larger markets. I support the risky long-term signings of the stoic Votto and fan favorite @datedudeBP. Hope they pay off for the Redlegs.
Again, I enjoy your personal blog, unabashed tweets and radio hosting shows. It keeps me interested while I transition into retirement from what once was a great job: newspaper sports reporter (alas, newspapers dying industry today).
Is there another woman who has a regular national/regional forum as a radio sports host these days? Or are you the lone ranger?
Sincerely,
@Jacksjack
April 16, 2012 at 9:30 am
Thank you, Jack! Thanks for following me from platform to platform and engaging in some intelligent dialog! Glad you’re still in the “game” – Amy 🙂
April 23, 2012 at 12:45 am
Hey Amy, how you doing this morning? I’m fine myself. I thought I would drop you a line to say I liked your blog and it actually got me to tears, on how some of the people were treating you. Take care and God Bless Amy.
April 23, 2012 at 7:25 pm
Thanks, Todd. That’s very sweet, and it means a lot to me. Appreciate you reading my blog. I’m working on a new entry tonight. 🙂
May 7, 2012 at 12:20 pm
Really enjoyed the post and I appreciate your perspective on things. Thanks for sharing!
April 8, 2015 at 2:01 pm
Hi Amy,
I just discovered you on my transistor radio which I keep on all night. You are fabulous, knowledgable and you keep it real, with great energy.
Your blog stating each day brings us a new chance is a great outlook.
Thanks for keeping me company!
From Marian–a 74 hear old grandmother/a fellow Aries/April 8!