I spent an entire year thinking I was 34. Subconsciously I was dreading my birthday, since I would be 35 and 35 is only 5 years away from 40!

Thanks to my dearest friend, Rebekah, who enlightened me that I was completing 34 this year! Now I can relive 34 all over again!

Since, my birthday fell on a Thursday, I requested hubby to save the celebration for Saturday due to his work and kids’ school! AND… Also, I wanted a day long celebration 😉

We spent our Saturday at Gröna Lund – a small sea-facing amusement park in Stockholm! What a memorable day it was!

At the entrance is the kids section which has no age restriction! It’s more for those who are kids at heart! It was wonderful watching youngsters, couples, parents, grandparents enjoying those mini rides beside little children! It maked me realise age is just a number!

Although, the section was technically for kids, I must confess, some of the rides did churn my tummy. However, my girls had a blast!

It was one of those rare occasions where I made the most of living the moment than capturing the moment. I did not take the camera out during the rides – for one, it was difficult; secondly, I had decided not to! Therefore there would be very less images of us on rides!

Gröna Lund is more like a year long carnival! You can feel the merriment in the air just walking through it!

The Tunnel of Love was fun sailing through with surprises along the way!

Kättingflygaren was one of the rides that I enjoyed with Kaitlyn! The night view of Stockholm city was simply incredible!

The Kaapulten was one of the two craziest rides I went on (The roller coaster being the other)! My heart was literally in my mouth!

The Kaapulten and the roller coaster rides are something that I will always remember. It was an experience that challenged me. Until that point I never knew I had the fear of heights or speed. That night I did and I confronted it! Since one of us had to be with the kids, Vj and I had to take turns on the ride. That meant I had to go all by myself. To have Vj beside me would have been a great support. But facing the challenge alone empowered me!

It may be just a ride at an amusement park. To me it was more like a practical lesson that I was being taught.

I felt God telling me a couple things,

• There is strength, courage and potential in me to achieve greater things that I have not tapped on to!
• While I am so comfortable going about the ordinary, there are heights to conquor and miles to go – extra-ordinary experiences that await!

One of the things that really caught my attention that day was – while I was trembling in shoes and closing my eyes as tightly as I can going on the rides, the Swedish kids, 10 and 12 yr olds, came, sat as if its an easy chair, coolly smiled through the ride and walked away as it if was hardly anything at all! I couldn’t help, but marvel!

Honestly, these Swedes are fearless! I see it every other day!

Full term pregnant women cycling!

Toddlers cycling or scooting along!

80 and 90 yr olds exercising, shopping and going about their lives all by themselves!

I realized how when I walked into my younger daughter’s preschool. I saw little kids, between 1 and 2 years, climbing, walking into bushes, playing in the mud. No one stopped them. No one told the child,

‘be carefull or you’d fall’,

‘don’t touch the sand. Oh! The germs!’ 

or

‘Don’t walk into the bush, there could be something poisonous!’

They provide the safest environment where it is okay to fall. What matters is climbing! The fear of falling is not entertained!

Little kids are encouraged to play in the sand, get dirty, touch, feel, discover!

Kids walk into bushes, through woods, finding their way and exploring what’s along the way!

With a start like this, their minds know no fear! No wonder this is a land of inventions!

At Gröna Lund, I not only confronted my fear of heights and speed, I confronted the fear I had of myself – my insecurities! I am not sure how many noticed that in this post there are photos of me, unlike the previous posts!

Here is why!

Although photography is a hardcore passion of mine and I love capturing people, it also became a shield that I use to hide from myself. Due to the insecurities about my looks and weight, over the years I subconsciously began to shun from photographs! Being a photographer gave me a good excuse to hide behind the camera and busy myself taking pictures of others!

With my photography I have always wanted to bring out the beauty in people and show them how amazing they are. Unfortunately, I failed to do that for myself!

So that morning, I told Vj that throughout our day at Gröna Lund I am going to pose and he has to take pictures of me. It was time! Time to face myself! Time to love myself! Embrace who I am! Time to be proud of myself and how I look!

For a change it was nice standing in front of the camera! It was good! I felt beautiful!

It was almost midnight when we walked out of Gröna Lund. We went to Vigårda at Norrlandsgatan. It is known for its burgers. The restaurant is beautiful and the staff very friendly. However the burgers were a letdown probably because my palate is very Indian!

All in all, a terrific day!