Hap' Birthday To Me

I just heard Avee growling in frustration, "Dis is dwiving me NUTS!"

Oops.

I may have said that one too many times on our road trip. Or twelve too many times.

I have so much I want to write about and it's overwhelming me into silence.

I just drove halfway across the country with three kids, I mean really---after that I could write about anything.

But I also had a birthday. And it was a fantastic birthday! I woke up at 9:30 on my birthday and took a nice long, uninterrupted shower. My kids were being fed by my friend upstairs, and I had no cares in the world. Aside from turning older that day.

It was our last full day in Utah, so I spent the morning packing our van and getting ready to head out. On the table was a balloon, a pan of brownies, wishing me a happy birthday, and a wrapped present. I walked right past them to get to the washing machine. That's how devoted I am to household chores. JJMac had to tell one of the kids to come back and look at the loot waiting for me on the table. It was an awesome start to my day.

I got to spend the evening with some more good friends, and I had one of the best dinners (homemade!) that I have had in ages. It was soooooooooo good. I was kind of fried by then. It had been nearly 2 weeks on the road. My kids wanted to sleep with me and I wanted to throw them against the wall. I wish I was joking.

I want to tell you about Saturday.

I have been married for 7 years. I have made no secret of my little gripes about J's lack of enthusiasm for holidays and birthdays. Funny thing is, I really did have a change of heart and feel good about how things are.

Wow. I'm just linking all over the place. What is that all about?

Anyway, all it takes is letting go. I'm here to testify: If you love your birthday and think it should be a national holiday, set it free. It will come back to you. :)

On Saturday we spent the day hanging out, recouping from our travels. J, my niece, and I all had good books. The kids had dirt to run their hands through, messes to make, Pokemon cards to obsess over, and 23 outfits to try on and leave laying around.

Around 11 am my friend dropped in with a gigantic bouquet of balloons. 24 balloons. One for every year I've been alive. (sometimes having a cheap husband works out for the best)

I thought it was very sweet and a really nice surprise for my mellow Saturday morning.

About 3 hours later some more friends showed up with this awesome cake pan/box and a delicious chocolate cake. We had cake and sat around and talked, and I thought about what a lovely day it had turned out to be, just sitting around chillin'.

Then around 3-4 hours after that, some MORE FRIENDS dropped by with ice cream and suddenly some rootbeer showed up on the table and within moments we were eating rootbeer floats.

Now, I like to think I'm a pretty sharp woman. But I think I may have given my husband good reason to believe I am not. It was all planned by him. He thought it would be cool to have people stopping by through out the day, with treats for my birthday.

He was right. It was awesome. All day long birthday celebrations are the BEST.

Finally I figured out that it wasn't just coincidence.

Then more people came and we had a corn fest.

I sort of wish I was joking about that, but the fact is, I love my husband through and through. And it's f'real. And part of loving him through and through, is accepting the fact that he does things like, plans a corn fest to celebrate my birthday.

He enlisted the neighbor kids and ours to shuck about 40 ears of corn. And then he cooked them all. And I didn't think twice about my husband cooking up 40 ears of corn in the middle of the day. But everyone who came over that night, seemed to be expecting corn. So I figured he had lured everyone there with promises of fresh Iowa sweet corn. Oh yeah, and to celebrate with me.

It was a perfect and lovely day. I love that J was thinking about me and working to plan something to surprise me. Not sure which of the love languages it is, but I love it when J thinks about me when we aren't together. Because, when we are together, I'm very demanding and pretty much give him no choice but to think about me.

Danyo set free all but 3 of my balloons. Which is a little sad, but he was definitely determined to be those balloons' hero---so, what'reyagonnado?

I got to go to Olive Garden with my niece and two of my friends, and then yesterday we had dinner with our friends as a sort of finish to my birthday and the start of my friend Kim's.

She's old now too. Go wish her a happy birthday and remind her that for the next 359 days, she is as old as me.