But No One Got Me a Snuggie

My 39th Birthday, Condensed

As most of you know by now, I LOVE birthday month. I am having a great birthday this year. Here are some of the highlights!

• My parents called me at 6 a.m. and sang “happy birthday” in unison. They also (I am sure this wasn’t planned) both said “Happy birthday dear sweetie pie!” So cute! And SO thoughtful of them to make sure I was awake early on my birthday so I didn’t miss any of it!
• Colin gave a little, blue box with the “Blue Nile” logo on it! YEAH! He finally got the hint (“So if you are ever in a bind about what to get me JEWELRY IS ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA! Hint hint.”)
• My sister, Kathy called me. Then, later, her daughter Abby called me too! Abby also informed me that she just got cast in the roll of Annette in West Side Story at her high school!
• Sam and Claire called (that’s another set of niece and nephew) and sang happy birthday to me from the back seat of Mom Mary’s car. That’s their favorite place from which to talk to me .
• The postman delivered me a BOX which had in it CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES, homemade by my friend Lane! I am sure those chips weren’t Hershey’s either. And they arrived intact… good job USPS!
• One of my office mates in the English department, Carol, heard me telling a student it was my birthday. And she hollered from her office “It’s my birthday too.”
• I got to share my birthday, also, with Mirabelle Brathwaite, out in California, ensuring that ALL of you are wrapped in the warmth of birthday love, from coast to coast.
• I received over 40 Facebook birthday greetings from my awesome friends, of all manner– the involved a ewe, a man in a beer bottle, smelly monkeys, space diapers, princesses and Dutch speaking cats in my Green Patch.
• One of my students/advisees came to meet with me and told me he is now one of the school mascots! That has nothing to do with my birthday, but he just kept smiling and smiling about it and it made me thrilled.
• Colin took the early train home! I love it when he comes home early.
• NANCY served of us at Ralph and Rich’s for dinner. She was shaped like a barrel with bleached-blonde spikey hair, but she could roll those specials off without blinking, she didn’t spill a drop when she poured our wine, and she sang “happy birthday dear nice lady” when she brought my surprise candle in my dessert. AND when she said thanks and good night, she said “Happy Birthday Elizabeth.” Colin noted she’d paid attention while he was singing and caught my name. A server knows good service!
• There was tea before bed, even though I hardly remember drinking it.
• There were e-cards from Maw and Paw, and Cathy too.
• There was a phone message from Kathy Fazio, my old friend from the Boilermakers, wishing me a happy day.
• There was a pink sweater from my Mom, which she’d bought before Christmas, wrapped in white tissue paper and sent home with me in early December… “Happy Birthday Beth!!” was written in Sharpie on the tissue.
• There was the phone call with Lane while she rode the bus home. And the google chat from Bonnie that I missed but I spotted later.
• There was the video on youtube from my little sister Ann, with George and Margaret singing to me from the bathtub.
• There was a mess all over the house… because nobody has to do nuthin’ on their birthday! (I’ll be cleaning it up today.)

That was year 39, in a nutshell. Lots of love and fun, spilling out all over the place.

No wonder I love my birthday!