Sunday, April 18, 2010

Little Birthday Moments

35 for 35

1 the birthday wishes beginning early on April 15th with texts and calls before even leaving home for work
2 opening my parents sweet, sweet card - they are very good to me, made me teary
3 not feeling the slightest urge to cry at any other time on my birthday - see growing older can be painless
4 the arrival of one very special little girl - Catherine Grace McCauley
5 opening my best friend's parents sweet card - nice to have so many parents out there looking out for me
6 having a great time at my co-birthday party a few days early - celebrating all the April 35 girls!
7 having so many other good friends with birthdays within days of mine - what was it about April 1975?
8 having a good friend who was willing to host our birthday party, so we could sit back and enjoy
9 all the facebook birthday messages even from people I've totally lost touch with
10 old-fashioned real birthday cards waiting for me in my mailbox
11 one friend from seventh grade, who i usually goes years without seeing, but she always, always, without fail, mails me a birthday card
12 a friend surprising me at school with pink tulips - single girls are so good about looking out for each other
13 kids at school saying birthday allll day long - I quite possibly heard it 1,000 times this year and I loved it every time
14 feeling a bit like a rock star thanks to all the attention from my students
15 the birthday skinny fairy - isn't it funny how many people take a moment to complement you on your birthday - did i really lose 20 pounds overnight, do people just lie well to make me happy, or did i have a birthday confidence glow that shifted things? hmmm
16 my friends took me out for pizza and wine
17 enjoying my favorite, favorite pizza with feta
18 red wine
19 did i mention i'm doing an insane no alcohol/no dairy/low carb food challenge this month?
20 sitting for hours with the same friends on one of my favorite patios, still enjoying pizza and wine
21 one of the most adorable boys in 3rd grade proudly gave me a classic style no.2 yellow pencil as a birthday gift - can it get sweeter and simpler than this?
22 receiving such thoughtful presents from my friends - i love when i open a present a friend knew was perfect for me
23 and i love having new jewelry to play dress-up with
24 getting messages from my longtime girlfriends across the country
25 the fact that just from my text reply back, one of those friends (now living several states away) knew i was a little tipsy
26 not having time to workout because i have too many fun things to do
27 knowing i'm at a point in life where on a typical day, i actually consider working out as a fun thing to do
28 getting the exact same card from two of my friends - they both know me so well
29 students guessing that it is everything from my 20th to 50th birthday - guess that means I have a look that defies age
30 i love having an april birthday, it means warmer weather is here and summer is oh-so-close
31 being a tax day baby
32 when i finally got home on my birthday night, i had no desire to go to sleep - i just wanted to keep basking in birthdayness
33 wishing i could figure out how to keep the good birthday mojo vibe around the other 364 days of the year
34 still so grateful that my best friend Juli gave birth to a healthy baby girl, Cate, a mere 25 hours before my birthday
35 its not so hard to think of all the little moments that came together for my 35th birthday

Thursday, April 8, 2010

the gas station is not my love station

So here I was thinking the last exciting love connection I was going to make before my looming birthday next week would be an awkward set-up last month. I had no idea one stop at the gas station, post-workout would change all that. Sure sometimes it is nice to be noticed but getting hit on at the gas station. Seriously??
So back to the story, in a short time span of about 2 minutes, two different men felt the need to approach me. OK, the first one was just hitting me up for cash but the second guy, a big muscle guy, came over with the opening line of "So, I came over here to hit on you." Clever and subtle he is not. He then quickly asked for my name, where I had just worked out and if I was single. Yes, I pulled the fake boyfriend card. Who wouldn't? But that didn't deter..."How about lunch as friends? What would the harm of that be?" Quite a bit, I'm sorry to say, my fake boyfriend is crazy jealous. Thank Jesus my gas tank filled up miraculously fast. I did make it into the car before he asked for a number.
And for those who know me, I would not have even considered using a friend's name or worse yet giving out a friend's number as my own. Yea, I've done that more than once - for some reason all through college that seemed like a better idea to me than giving a complete wrong number. Somehow I always thought 'at least they will be calling someone who will nicely tell them they have the wrong number.' I know my friends really appreciated that one, sorry girls!
I do believe in timing and fate playing a part in how I'll meet the right guy, but the fact that he happend to pull up at the gas pump next to me, will surely not be the way it finally happens. But then again, so far, all the seemingly logical ways for it to happen haven't been quite as I imagined. Who know, maybe the sweaty and gross, straight from the gym thing works for me and this needs to start being my going-out look. As for the bad set-up last month, I think that debacle deserves its own posting - to be continued.