I'm 33 today.

Reverse the numbers - I'm still 33.

Thirty-three. 33.

My friend (and Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins) thinks this is a magical number.

33: The Facts

According to Wikipedia:

Jesus's age when he was crucified at age 33. A.D. He also performed 33 recorded miracles.
According to Al-Ghazali the dwellers of Heaven will exist eternally in a state of being age 33.^[2]
33 is not only a numerical representation of “the Star of David,” but also the numerical equivalent of AMEN: 1+13+5+14=33.
33 is the atomic number of arsenic
33 is, according to the Newton scale, the temperature at which water boils.
the highest degree in the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry.
A song by The Smashing Pumpkins on their album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Also a song by Coheed and Cambria on their album, The Second Stage Turbine Blade (the songs are not related)
The number 33 was discovered to lead to the essential meaning of life (the Bible) in Dan Brown's 2009 novel "The Lost Symbol".

33: The Feelings

A present birthday always makes me think of birthdays past. Many of them blend together into what i'm sure was a hot summer day where I made sure I was sitting on a beach and not at a desk. Others I will never forget...

32: My first birthday as a single women in three years. To celebrate I jumped out of a plane. The fleeting adrenaline-infused feeling of those first free-falling seconds when my feet were not touching plane, when brain realized that my whole entire body was not touching any thing at all is indescribable. The air was cool and loud. I smiled the whole way down.
30: I got up the guts to get my first tattoo after much thinking and researching and thinking. I'm now thinking about my second one.
Ages 24-28: Celebrated at some newish bar in NYC where my friends made sure I didn't go more than three seconds without one or sometimes two cocktails in my hands. Dancing and puking often ensued.
26: One of the most fun ever.
23: Spent in a far western corner of China with two good guy friends, just days before we embarked on a five day horse trek. My first yak burger. Likely my last. Was this in another lifetime?
Ages 6-11: Shared my birthday cupcake day in class with other "July/August" birthdays. Always resented this.
My parent used to tell me that the fireworks were for our nation's birthday AND mine. I believed them.

33: The Event

As good food has come to replace the role that alcohol once played, i will be having dinner at one my favorite Brooklyn restaurants with 5 wonderful girlfriends - some of whom i've known for more than 15 years. No boys allowed.

33: The Year

I have no idea what will happen this year.

I know i'll be blogging, and swimming and biking and snowboarding, and eating and enjoying life. I'll be planning and traveling and doing things that are special to me.

I hope it is magical (which or may not include meeting an awesome man), I hope that as my mother's birthday card said, it's full of surprises.

33: I'm ready for you.