When I asked my boss for my birthday off, I was told that in order to grant my request, she would have to have my word that I would detail the happenings of my birthday for her. I thought that perhaps she was taking “living vicariously” a bit too far, but I agreed.
Taking my birthday off was, of course, all part of my master plan. I was able to spread the event across two days because my colleagues acknowledged it the day before (Wouldn’t we all spread it across the entire week, if we could?). I was presented with a birthday cake, a giant chocolate chip cookie, and various birthday cards, suggesting the gifts and cake and ice cream that might be in store the next day. If there is anything bad about being born in January, it may be that your friends and colleagues are all on diets and refuse to partake in the birthday goodies! Oh well, more to take home.
I headed home that night with my arms full of left over birthday cake and presents. Out of habit, I woke up around seven the next morning, but I smiled and rolled back over to enjoy an extra couple of hours of sleep. When I finally got up, it was a little after nine and I wondered how I would spend my morning. A friend called and offered to take me to iHop, and I wondered no more. Eggs, bacon, coffee, and a never-ending stack of pancakes – it sure beats the instant oatmeal I toss in my bag on usual mornings while I’m rushing out the door!
I stopped at Mom & Dad’s after breakfast, where I was presented with cards from them and from my little brother, who isn’t very little anymore, considering he’ll be twenty-five this July. I reminded my mother that I am officially “pushing thirty” now, and it made me feel a little better that, while I may be kissing my twenties goodbye in another year, she’s the one who has to come to terms with the fact that her oldest is about to enter a new decade. Perhaps I should send her a Thinking of You card around New Year’s, 2009!
With birthday cards often comes money or gift cards, both of which I received that afternoon. I immediately high-tailed it to Best Buy and spent it all in no time flat. I have a few talents, but spending is the one I excel at most. I was home in time to watch Oprah as I logged on to my email to see who else had remembered my birthday with greetings and well-wishes. Then it was off to dinner with another friend. The scale may not like me too much after my day of pancakes and cheese fries, but my stomach was quite satisfied!
Before I knew it, it was another morning of the alarm clock ringing and me having to figure out what I was going to wear to work. I got to my desk this morning and thought how glad I was to have left all the birthday cards on my shelf on Monday afternoon instead of taking them home. My birthday may be over in the official sense, but those cards allow me to extend the feeling a little longer.