Birthdays

As my birthday came and went this year, I was reflecting upon birthdays in general.

Once again, Jim Gaffigan has some wonderful things to say about birthdays.
Birthdays. Everyone acts a little bit differently around their birthday, don't they. Ever have that friend that gives you the birthday alert. 'Hey, just wanted to let you know that next Tuesday is my birthday.' 'Hey just wanted to let you I'm not getting you anything'. They give the alert, cause, you know, there is so much pressure in our society to have a good time on your birthday; 'I can't believe I'm going to work on my birthday, I can't believe I'm doing laundry on my birthday, I can't believe I'm paying for sex on my birthday, what a rip off'.

It is fun to getting those gifts though. It can be hard to give a gift, you know. It's a gamble, it's hard. I can't believe we are still giving clothes as a gift, because whenever you get clothing as a gift, you open it up and you think, 'not even close'. And the person who gave it is always like 'You can take it back if you don't like'. 'That's alright, I will just throw it out. Don't give me an errand.' 'Happy Birthday, why don't you head to the mall for me. If you can get my dry cleaning that would be awesome.'

Ever get a candle as a gift. Hey thanks, you know I have electricity right? Look if my place smells, just let me know. No this is perfect, now I know what I am getting you for your birthday. This... candle gifts"

It's a gamble with gifts. The Statue of Liberty was a gift; big beautiful statue, gift from the French. Good thing the statue is beautiful because if it was ugly that would have been awkward. The french would have come over, 'where is the statue of Liberty?' 'Ah-yah, that's in the desert in Arizona. Yah, we thought it really complemented the desert' It would have been even more awkward if we re-gifted the Statue. 'Where's that gigantic statue'   'Ah - Japan was having a birthday and we didn't know what to get them. We said it was from both of us. And they just love it, love it, love it, love it. love it, love it"

My favorite gift I have ever received is a flask. I think giving someone a flask is a nice way of saying 'Hey you seem like a drunk on the go. You strike me as needing hard liquor at all times. This would be good for you in your car.' hmm. hmm.

Cake can actually brings people together. 'It's Bill's birthday.' 'Agh - I hate that guy.' 'There's cake in the conference room.' Well, I should say hello, see how he's doing.' Hey, I mean, admit it. When you hear that song, all you are thinking is 'hey, I am getting some free cake'. During the song you're just wondering what kind it is. Hope it's chocolate for me. We are all bashful when we are offered a piece. We are all like, huh, what, well I guess I will try a piece. What is this called - cake? Yah, I have never had cake before. (and then proceeds to scarf it down).
~~Jim Gaffigan, Beyond the Pale

I am lucky enough that I have friends who know exactly what to get me, a husband who knows what I need, and family that knows what I love.  This year was a great birthday. I slept in until about 1:00 in the afternoon, but we didn't go to bed until about 1:00am. Then Joel made me Blueberry Pancakes and scrambled eggs for breakfast. Oh so good. Ooey-Gooey blueberry loaded pancakes. Then with a stuffed stomach, I headed straight to the couch to finish browsing the Ikea catalog, watch some TV, and to get ready for a nap. Not much later, we decided to take my car to get an oil change, transmission flush, coolant flush, and something else flush. While we waited we went grocery shopping because all that was left in the fridge was a couple beers and some celery. Then we picked up my car, dropped off the groceries at home and went straight to Costco to get some more groceries. We got there just in time to sneak under the door as they were closing the entrance. We ran around the store grabbing the essentials. By the time we got home, I was exhausted. I had to lay down on the couch and nap. When I woke up, I watched a movie, ate some chili-mac, and drank a few beers.

Yesterday my mother & father-in-law came over and we all went out to dinner. Judy was so sweet to remember that I love those wooden ducks in raincoats that I saw all over Leavenworth. She even got me the Christmas outfit for the duck. I was very excited. Then I opened the group gift from Jack, Judy, and Joel. I got a brand new super-computer from Joel. My laptop has been having some troubles and Joel is tired of having to kick me off the computer so he can log into work. So now we get to spend more quality time together. Actually it is more like sitting in the same small room (the smallest room in the house actually) with our backs to each other as we each dork around on our computers. When you get married, you turn into nerds.

Tomorrow I am going to meet up with Julie and Chris for dinner. That will be fun. Julie has to work all day Saturday and Sunday and she is still going to drive all the way down here to have dinner with me. I can't believe it. How wonderful it is to be loved.

Thursday I had happy hour with Anna, Saara, and Jackie (not sister Jackie) in Seattle and that was really fun. Anna surprised me with a gift and she had the best card ever. It was a picture of a rabbit with sunglasses on. I loved it. I had to leave it on the table during the entire happy hour, just so I could keep looking at it. Now I am trying to figure out how to put sunglasses on Jack Rabbit. Anna gave me a Seahawks sweater, cause I don't have any hawk gear to wear to football Sunday at Robert and Anna's house. Now I will be prepared.

Thank you to everyone for making the past year one of the best yet. Here's to the next 365 days!