a full, tiring, busy, stressful, happy birthday
Today was my birthday--my "champagne" or golden birthday, as I turned 27 on May 27th.
The day started at 12:05 last night with a call from Krista, who had been up working on her presentation for her ABA conference in Chicago. She sang happy birthday to me, as she always does, and then we talked into the night like we used to in college. It reminded me of the speech I gave at the SERCIAC conference years back, presenting my Fulbright research. That night, Krista stayed up until very late helping me hone my presentation. I tried to do the same, but she was too prepared for that :).
After doing a few hours of work, I finally got to bed around 2:30 am. When I woke up at 7 am, I was so tired that I had a very difficult choice between skipping my 8 am class and getting extra sleep and getting up and going to class. I chose the latter, heading to class where I did my normal work, then went home to get some lunch, do some more work, then head back to my moral and spiritual inquiry class, where we discussed Camus' The Stranger, whether life has meaning, and what spirituality truly means in our lives.
After class, I headed home despite protests from my friend Dave Haase that I should go to dinner with he and his wife Ashley to celebrate. Too busy, I said, but as I headed home and reflected on microwaving a chicken poblano lean cuisine, eating alone, and then doing more work while I waited to leave to pickup Krista at the airport, I decided that it would be pretty sad indeed to have dinner on my birthday alone. So I texted Dave to see if he still wanted to get dinner, and 30 minutes later Ashley, Dave, Tim Murphy and I were enjoying comfort food at the Peninsula Creamery. Ashley and I both could use the comfort, as we had both had long, tiring, depressing days.
After, I did some work, then left to pickup Krista at the airport. We drove home, and as I opened the door--which was already unlocked, to my surprise--a mass of humanity leaped out of the darkness, screaming at me.
Screaming "Happy Birthday". It was a surprise. I nearly jumped back through the screen door and screamed myself. I was completely surprised. All my closest friends were there, at 11 at night, hiding in the dark as part of Krista's master plan.
It was quite an honor, and quite a way to turn a day around. Everyone was wearing polo shirts and hoodies, and a few (Gambrel and Murphy) even went so far as to try to style fohawks for themselves. And Gambrel even had a trendy belt and a pair of cool vans on (a good look).
(To Be Added Later)
Krista got me a birthday cinnabon, in honor of my recent cinnamon bun craving (nicole and jason will appreciate this greatly, I know). And we sat and chatted, drank some nice new zealand wine, listened to the mix cd that my local new zealand beatmaster friend Luke made for me (featuring Jay-z and Mary J. Blige), and enjoyed the deep friendships the last two years had brought each of us.
Quite a way to finish out, indeed.
Shoutouts to Luke, Scott, Bolden, Gambrel, Tim, Houghton, Harris, Jane, Ethan, Ashley, Chandler, Annie, DKing, JKing, Keith, and all the others who I know would've been there if they could've.
And thanks to everyone for the calls and text messages, emails and facebook posts.
And the biggest shoutout to the best girl out there, of course: Krista. You GOT me!
