I've always been sentimental about birthdays, both mine and everyone else's.

I believe birthdays are special because it's the one day that celebrates you. While holidays belong to everyone, your birthday uniquely belongs just to you.When my friends have a birthday, I try to do something nice to commemorate it. When I have a birthday, I do the same thing.No matter what the circumstances, I try to make my birthday a happy one.In the years that I worked, and before our company started counting our birthday as a personal holiday for us, I made sure I planned a great workday by interviewing fascinating people or covering a fun event.When I no longer had to work on my birthday it became even easier to plan something I would enjoy. Often, it was lunch with a favorite person I didn't get to see too often.Sometimes, it was just an activity I enjoyed, such as going to the nursery and picking out something for my garden.There was nothing that could stop me from planning a fun birthday - not even as rainstorm.I won't forget the year I had planned to spend my birthday looking for new plants at a popular nursery. That year, there was no one there except me. That's because there was a torrential rainstorm that wouldn't let up.Undeterred, I got a big umbrella and shopped at the nursery as if there was glorious sunshine.I had planned to put the plants in the ground when I got home, even though the rain had not let up. No problem. I put on rain gear and big boots and worked outside.The ground was so soaked that what I planted eventually slid down the hill. But at least I was happy because I got to do what I wanted to do on my birthday.After I had more than a few decades of birthdays under my belt, my friends and I declared we would celebrate our birthday month, not just one day. That way, we could extend our good times being with friends.I still do that with my closest friends. We call each other and pick a time during our birthday month to get together for lunch or a social gathering.But I still think the day itself is special. I try to celebrate my birthday by planning an outing I truly enjoy.For the past nine years, my husband and I celebrated our birthdays by going somewhere new within a few hours' drive to spend a few days kayaking and biking.He usually plans my birthday trip and I plan his. But this year we were both not feeling up to a long trip for my birthday.I said I would be happy going kayaking for the day, then celebrating my birthday at my favorite lobster place.It didn't quite work out like that because my husband wanted to have lunch closer to where we kayaked.I couldn't get lobster anywhere in that town but I did find a quirky place that Trip Advisor said served delicious lobster tacos. Perfect.Except after we ordered them, the waitress returned to say they were out of lobster. She recommended the seafood stuffed mushrooms instead.Hey, I wasn't going to let anything get me down on my birthday so I just pretended the mushrooms were lobster.We went shopping for the mango tree and ruby red grapefruit tree we want, but that didn't work out either because we needed a truck to get them home.I told myself delayed gratification was great because it would give me something to look forward to when we went for the trees.I tell you all that minutia just to get the point across that I refuse to let anything keep me from having a happy birthday.The day was enjoyable because I made it that way.What dawns on me is that every day can be a happy day if we are determined to make it one.And every day can be a special day if we work to make it special.My friend Fran always says every day when she gets up she decides it's going to be a happy day."Every single day of our life we can decide to be happy or not to be happy. I pick happy," she says.Both Fran and I think attitude is everything. We also think an attitude of gratitude is the biggest secret to living an incredibly happy life.The right attitude can make any day happy if we focus on the positive instead of focusing on disappointments or worries.The wrong focus can make a happy day melt away.The point I'm trying to make is the power we have within us. We all have the power to decide how happy we will be in life.It's true that we can't control what happens to us. But we can control our reaction to it. It's all part of attitude.It doesn't matter if it's our birthday or any other day of the year. The satisfaction we get from the day could be in our control. It's like finding what you are looking for.So, have a good day, or at least as good a day as your positive attitude can make it.Contact Pattie Mihalik at

newsgirl@comcast.net.