I have a milestone birthday coming up soon and hubby wants to start planning a celebration of some kind but I can’t decide what I want. He said I could have a party, or go out to dinner, or we could take a trip ... anywhere in the world.

I am not and never have been the partying kind in fact, I cringe at the thought. I have not had a birthday party since I turned 18, and even that was under duress.

I need to go visit my favourite aunt and hubby needs to see his elderly mother. Both live in different states, and each in a different state to where we live now. That would be nice and I’d like that, but it would more of an obligation trip that I will do anyway, rather than a fun trip for me to celebrate a special occassion.

Hubby’s been wanting to go to Europe for a while; maybe taking a trip to the Greek islands or a cruise down the Rhine, but I don’t want to go. He can't seem to understand why but the thought of it doesn’t excite me at all. Distant travel anywhere makes me shudder at the thought, mainly because I know I would not tolerate the long flights, but also because I've become a bit of a recluse and would much rather stay at home. So, although most people would be thrilled to be offered an overseas trip, it would not be a fun thing for me to look forward to. Besides, with the economy the way it is, I’m reluctant to take such a big chunk out of our savings at the moment.

I suppose we’ll end up going out to dinner....... again. That’s about the only thing we ever do to celebrate an occasion, so I wondered if you might have any ideas of how to make this year's birthday a bit more special for a change.