Birthday Memories

Well, today was my last day as a 30 year old. But when I left the office, my boss, who is out tomorrow, wished me an early birthday and thought I was turning 26. I don't know if she was serious, but she certainly seemed surprised that I was turning 31. I'll take that as a compliment.

And so far this birthday is better than last year. This time last year (the night before my actual birthday), I was feeling like death warmed over. My friend Kristin threw me a party that Saturday (my birthday was on a Monday), which was great - I really hadn't had an actual birthday party in years - so don't take this to mean I didn't appreciate and enjoy that. I did!

The sucky part started later. Saturday night my boyfriend became violently ill. (Come to find out he hadn't felt well all day.) I didn't sleep much that night, because he was in and out of bed all night running to the bathroom and being ill...and I am a hypochondriac (or at least I definitely have tendencies), and kept telling myself I felt fine, and was just off because of Fred and my worry that something Kristin served at the party was undercooked and we were all going to die...(yes, sometimes my mind works that way, sadly).

Nope! Sunday morning was my turn for violent illness. It was awful. I hadn't been that sick in years. Not even when I had the flu the year before. So, Sunday I feel like death, and we were supposed to go to breakfast with my friend Kerri before taking her to the train station to head back to Sacramento. Fred was feeling a bit better by then, but I was not in good shape. So, he drove my car and when we picked up Kerri at her hotel, Fred went to go get her, and I went into the ladies room to lay down (luckily there was a couch in there). Needless to say, Kerri took one look at me and volunteered to nix breakfast and take an earlier train.

The rest of Sunday was spent on the couch, sleeping, running to the bathroom, and swilling Pepto Bismol. By Monday I still felt pretty bad, but at least food (what tiny tiny amounts of saltine crackers I had managed to eat) was staying down. So, I ended up calling in sick to work on my 30th birthday. And not even to play hooky... :( They (at work) had decorated my desk and had planned a surprise potluck for me. I felt bad calling in, because I knew they would do something. But, I also knew that I couldn't be around the scent of any foods and make it through the day. I did get flowers delivered to the office, but they were picked up by a co-worker. They were still pretty and fresh when I got in on Tuesday. And I wasn't back to eating normally for almost a week. So that's the exciting story of my 30th...

On the flip side, half of my life ago (wow that makes me feel old!), my older sister threw me a surprise party. It was 1990, a few weeks before I turned 15, and maybe a week or so before my family moved from Gilroy to Folsom. My parents took me shopping, just me, and I didn't think anything of it at the time, even though it was pretty rare for them to take just one out of us four kids clothes shopping... We were out a while, and I still remember a couple of the things that we bought. (This is sad...I got a pair of pink and blue flowered overall shorts with a wide navy cloth belt and a navy blue t-shirt. Sound like '91?)

We get home, open the door, and there's my sister and all my friends lined up the stairs throwing confetti and yelling surprise. I had no clue. And I didn't get jumpy and screamy to show my surprise - I couldn't believe anyone would do something like that for me, and I got all quiet and incredulous. Until the day she died, my sister always said I wasn't surprised then, and never let me forget it (obviously, I haven't). But I really was surprised, and happy about it. Especially since I figured that my birthday would suck that year, since I'd be in a new school and know no one.

It was a slumber party, and my sister planned it for me. I remember specifically that someone (actually, it might have been Terri's) had the Young Guns II soundtrack, and my sister kept playing "Blaze of Glory" by Bon Jovi. I always did like that song. Anyway, we all went swimming for a while out in the backyard pool, and then came in hung out. I don't remember too many details, but it was fun and the only one of my childhood birthday parties that had a significant number of guests show up. (Didn't help that my birthday was always the first week of school.) Ah...happy memories.

:)