Happy Birthday to Me!

Well, another birthday has come and gone. I guess I’m another year older. Birthdays just aren’t very exciting once you’ve had a few dozen of them. To make it worse, mine fell on Monday this year. Not even a birthday can salvage a Monday.

There was little special about my special day. I lost track of how many times I forgot what day it was. Several times I was writing the date and, as I do any other day of the year, I glanced up to my desk calendar to check the date. That always makes me feel like a dummy. A couple of times I even remembered that the day had some special significance, but I still had to stop and think what that was.

My birthday started normally, with nothing fancy for breakfast. Then off to work. Several coworkers were aware of my birthday in years past, but I didn’t expect anyone to remember this year. I didn’t make any big deal out of it. Then one of my coworkers showed up and kissed me and wished me a Happy Birthday right in front of another coworker. The cat was out of the bag at that point. I got the company wide e-mail announcing my birthday and I spent the bulk of the morning answering the well-wishers. Thanks, Dawn.

The kids had their usual piano lessons after school. I stayed at work late (on my birthday!) and picked them up when they were done. We then met the rest of the family at Avanti’s for dinner, a fact that probably causes some jealousy in my siblings. I learned that Avanti’s serves their birthday guests a cake. Not a piece of cake, but a whole cake. It was about a six inch cake decorated with a rose made from icing. It looked pretty professional, and I was impressed. The cake was good, but the frosting was a bit too sweet. At least I didn’t have the wait staff serenading me with “Happy Birthday”. The kids took care of that.

After dinner Drew had to go right across the street to Kingsley for a 5th grade band rehearsal. He didn’t have a very good attitude before he got there, but once it was done he admitted that it was fun. They will have one more rehearsal next Monday before the concert on the following Monday. After we dropped him off we came home and watched a little TV. When he got home I opened my presents. (A Harry Connick, Jr. CD “Oh my NOLA”, and an orange Illini sweatshirt that was on clearance probably because it was mislabeled. It was a little snug, so Drew ended up getting a new shirt for my birthday.) My favorite gifts came at bedtime when I tucked in my girls. A goodnight hug and kiss go a long way for me.

I guess it was a mixed bag with my birthday. Some people I thought might have remembered didn’t, and some people that I thought would ignore it acknowledged it. Nobody treated me very special and yet somehow it was. The ones who matter to me showed me that I matter to them. What more could I ask for? At least I’m not 40 yet!!