A couple of weeks ago, Jim asked me if I was getting excited about my birthday coming up. I said, “Eh, not really.”
It wasn’t that I was dreading it (I wrote about my thoughts leading up to it in my last post); I was looking forward to our family dinner out and evening at an improv comedy show, but I couldn’t say that I was jumping for joy about the birthday itself.
The day started off great and only got better. When I opened up my laptop for the first time in the morning, I had a flood of well wishes from my Facebook friends. I put up this status:
I went to Zumba class. Yay!
After Zumba, I took a nice, long shower and then spent a few hours creating holiday cards to sell at an open house we were having at work today. I really enjoyed just sitting around, CREATING, while watching some of the tv shows I had sitting in my DVR. It was a really peaceful afternoon, and I loved it.
Later, it was time for Jim, the younger boy and I to meet Julesie at a restaurant for dinner. On the way over, I felt just a teeny bit sad. My inner dialogue? Here you go:
“Aw, this is going to be the first birthday since 1991 that I won’t get to spend with the older boy. I wish he could be here (he wasn’t able to come home from school because of mass amounts of homework). It was inevitable that at some point, I wouldn’t be spending my birthdays with one or both my kids every single year, and apparently this is just when it begins…But…this is part of life. It’s supposed to be this way, and I’m sure I’ll talk to him later…”
After that dip in my morale and my pep talk to myself, we parked the car and approached the restaurant, where a friend of mine was enjoying a beer with her husband outside on the patio. We chatted with them for a minute and then said goodbye so we could go in and meet Julesie.
It took us a minute to find her, and when we did, we walked closer and–BOOM!–there was the older boy, hiding in the corner so we couldn’t see him from the front door. It was such a huge surprise, I couldn’t believe it!! He and Julesie had chatted at midnight and she asked him if he had enough homework done to get away for Saturday afternoon through Sunday morning (he did), and she drove the 90 minutes each way to get him so we could have a Fab Five birthday celebration instead of a Fab Four birthday celebration. So great!
By the way, this photo cracks me up. Julesie took it before we arrived.
After dinner, we caught an improv comedy show, along the lines of “Whose Line is it Anyway?” It was hilarious, and it was so great to enjoy it as a five-some.
(Don’t know what “Whose Line?” is? Watch this clip, which is one of the funniest moments on the show, ever.)
At home, I got another great surprise. Julesie made me a rainbow cake! It was her first rainbow cake ever (making, not eating, of course), and when I saw it, it took my breath away. I dare you to look at this and NOT gasp in awe.
Being a more adventurous person in the kitchen (and, often, out of the kitchen, but that’s another post) than I, Julesie “deconstructed” the rainbow cake. Instead of putting all of the colors in one pan, letting them swirl together, she baked each color separately and then assembled them into a layer cake. WOW. I told her that I think it might be the prettiest cake I’ve ever seen. It left the one I made for her this year in the dust, that’s for sure.
After cake? Presents, of course! I got a new binder for my Playbills (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, don’t worry about it: it’s a theater thing.), a gift card to a favorite workout clothing store, and THIS!
It was a great day, and a fun night. I thought the great stuff was done for the day, and then right before bed, I realized that we had to set the clocks back by an hour, and that was just more icing on the cake.
So folks, I think it’s gonna be a great year…don’t you?
©2010 Suburban Scrawl
11 Comments
Colleen - Mommy Always Wins
That IS a great birthday! Glad you had such a great day!!!
Heather
that is SO AWESOME! it sounds like you had a fantastic day!!! julesie's cake is INCREDIBLE! 😀
Deb
Fabulous day! Sounds like you are off on your best year ever!
MaNiC MoMMy™
Hahah, Julie's cake is WAY better!! hee hee! And you know what, those of us who have been around for as long as you've been a blogger have a request. Quit calling your sons "older boy" and "younger boy" … that just sounds sooo… hmmm, what's the word … too much like a blogism. Too, hmmm, distant. Yeah, it's too distant. At least give them something more relatable, like college kid and highschooler. OK. Yeah, thanks. Happy birthday. THanks for being a bit older than me.
Tara R.
Happy Birthday again! What a great celebration, and so cool that both your boys were with you… way to go Jules! Hope this coming year is your best yet!
As Cape Cod Turns
So cool! Glad that you had a super dooper birthday! And way to go Jules on the cake and getting older boy!!!
House of Jules
🙂
NYCPatty
Your sister ROCKS!
Getting your son & that cake! She's pretty awesome!
I'm so glad you had a great birthday! You so deserve it! You are going to LOVE the Zumba dvds! I just got them last week and I'm on the learning the steps one and the 20 minute workout! Its so awesome! It's become my favorite dvd and there is still more to try!
Mom24
That sounds like a pretty perfect day all right. I'm so glad for you.
The cake looked amazing!
Eternal Lizdom
Happy belated birthday from me to you!
I loooove the Facebook birthday greetings.
I have that Zumba DVD set and really like it- but haven't used it in a while. I need to break it out ASAP!
Otter Thomas
Sorry I'm so late. I still live in that world without FB. Happy Birthday anyway. It looks like you had an awesome time. So cool that oldest could be there. And that cake is great. Never seen anything like that.