Happy Birthday to Me

When you become an adult, birthdays all run together. This year my birthday was an especially good one, and I want to remember it. Despite the fact that the majority of my family did not acknowledge my birthday on the actual day (my mom called me a day later, one brother emailed me a day later, and one sister called two days later), or the fact that my best friend completely forgot (it wasn't until she happened to come over the next day and saw birthday cards on my counter that she figured it out), or the fact that my husband didn't give me anything (card or gift)--these things did not affect the positive feeling I had all day long.

The day got started right. When Brett heard me stirring in the morning, he sweetly wished me a happy birthday. To which I replied, "Rabbit rabbit." (When I was in second grade my teacher told us that if we remembered to say "Rabbit rabbit" before saying anything else on the first day of the month we would have good luck for the rest of the month. She always made a big deal of it and it stuck.) Yeah for good luck! 

I got up and noticed more doors closed than usual. When I started down the hall, the boys heard me and started yelling, "Mom! Don't come in!" They emerged a short time later with homemade cards and thoughtful comments. Everyone was cheerful as we got ready for school, and Ryan even made me Morning Orange Drink.

I took Copper for a nice walk and got ready for the day. I had made arrangements to have lunch with two friends from church (before they knew it was my birthday). 

After a very nice lunch I went to Walmart. I ran into an old friend and talked with him for almost an hour. I also saw three friends from church, including one who immediately came up to me and wished me a happy birthday.

I cam home and found a card and rose from my mother-in-law. I went to my own small garden and picked my first cherry tomato of the year as well as a beautiful stalk of pink gladiolas to put in my kitchen window. Then I made myself a Coca-Cola cake from a recipe that I found on Pinterest. It looked so good I couldn't wait to try it out.

Brett and I had made plans to have an early dinner. He made me fresh (caught the day before) blackened amberjack. I made two easy sides. Dinner was done and cleaned up quickly. We were on the boat by 5:30pm, just as the rain stopped, and spent the rest of the evening water skiing. We came home, cleaned up, and ate cake (delicious!).

The boys were in bed fairly early. A friend stopped by with a small gift. And Brett and I were able to sit down and watch two episodes of Castle together.

That was it. Nothing very exciting. But my family was cheerful, kind, and loving all day; and I was happy all day long, from start to finish. In the end, that is what set this birthday apart as one of the best.