Eeyore once said, "It's my birthday, the happiest day of the year!" That was the episode when Piglet bought him a big balloon and Pooh bought him a jar of honey. But on the way to the party, Piglet fell down and broke the balloon, and Pooh ate all the honey. So Piglet brought him a broken balloon and Pooh brought him an empty jar. But Eeyore was thrilled. He put the popped balloon into the jar and was so pleased. And he took it out again. And he put it back. And then took it out. He not only made the best of it, he didn't even notice that anything was wrong with that picture!

I woke up on my 46th birthday to find an aromatic present from my dog on our kitchen stairs. "Happy Birthday Mommy, I baked you a pie!" he seemed to say, as he wagged his tail and smiled up at me with his happy dog smile. Ignorance is bliss. I didn't have the heart to punish him.

The day continued, and we gathered around the table for breakfast with our company from out of town. In the midst of clattering forks and coffee brewing, the dog threw up under the table. Hmmm, I thought, there's a pattern afoot. Actually, the pattern almost landed on my foot. And it wasn't a pretty sight.

Boy, what one has to do to cope with life on earth. As a wise man once said, life is coming and going, waking and sleeping, crying and laughing. And if you're wadding up paper towels and tossing them in the trash can while you're on your way, then you're doing two things at once, and that's more than a lot of people are doing!

I spent the day celebrating my birthday with friends by hiking and going to the movies, which was really nice. But when I came home I discovered that one of my kids had plugged up one of the bathrooms. So I went to work with a plunger and suddenly had another problem appearing in the shower. Oh no! This is serious! I finally managed to put both messes to rest, and disinfected everything and sat down to ponder the day. My day began and ended with ---- with --- with --- I almost can't say it --- POOP! And I wondered if there was something in my horoscope that could have warned me. Was there something about the numerology of this day, something in the stars that brought me to these moments of destiny? Was it something that I myself had done, to bring about this omen on the 46th anniversary of the day of my birth? It's hard not to get nervous!

But then I realized that my friend Maureen had driven all the way down from Washington, D.C., to be with me on my birthday. My husband was out of town at a conference, and she came even though she was tired and didn't have a long time to spend. She even smuggled a cake into the house and led everyone in a resounding chorus of "Happy Birthday" -- which still has same the effect on me that it did when I was a child -- I can't look up into people's eyes when they're singing because I'm overwhelmed.

When Maureen went back to Washington, another friend, Jane, took me to the movies. We sat there in the silence of good friendship, enjoying a film while my kids stayed at her house playing with her husband and kids.

When I got home, I got a call from my best friend from high school, Jenny, and we talked and laughed on the phone for an hour. Another friend called after that. And then my husband called and said he wished he could have been home for my birthday, and we murmured words of love for another hour.

I got in my bed that night and thought about the day. I had received a lot of blessings of love, and I felt truly humbled by it. I concluded that even though life has its questionable moments, it's full of wonderful ones too. And the wonderful ones only make you more grateful. Gratitude is even sweeter when measured against reminders of how one should be more humble.

I only wish they'd make an air freshener that smells better.