Better than expected

Thank you all for the birthday wishes. I have to admit, I was dreading the day, but it ended up being quite nice.

That was primarily because my cousin set up a tribute.com compilation that all my cousins and aunt and uncles recorded videos for. My parents also did one (and my mom did one for my grandmother by reading a letter from her to me that she found at her house), and my in-laws and my friends. It was so moving to see all my friends wishing me happy birthday, reflecting on favorite memories and saying nice things about me. My husband had it all queued up when I came upstairs, and it was the most amazing way to start the day. It totally turned my attitude around.

Other things I did on my birthday:

Watched The Little Mermaid with my daughter. She had been wanting to watch it again and it’s one of my favorites so I happily obliged. She also let me sing along to all the songs, just because it was my birthday.

Went for a run, and my daughter and her friend did their own walk in the park. We’ve been using a set of walkie-talkies my parents got us at parks so the girls can have some independence and it works out nicely when I want to run.

Listened to part of Governor Newsom’s press conference.

Participated in a two hour union meeting.

Got my period.

Did some work.

Got ice cream cookie sandwiches from Coldstone (I wanted to get a tray of their cupcakes – a bit of a ritual on my birthday at this point – but evidently they don’t make them anymore (or you have to order them ahead of time? I was confused)). The ice cream cookie sandwiches were plenty yummy so I was fine.

Picked up my favorite dish – thrice cooked bacon with rice cakes from Mission Chinese.

Talked to, and texted with, a ton of friends who reached out on my birthday.

Watched Memento with my husband, which I had been wanting to watch again for a long time.

Enjoyed some yummy cocktails that my husband mixed us.

Ordered some stuff online (my son’s camp, which was a big, unexpected expense, pushed me to my spending limit much earlier in the month than expected so I had been waiting until my credit card rolled over to the next billing period to use it again).

All in all it was a very nice day, and I was pleasantly surprised. Now we get ready for my husband’s birthday next week…