A Month of Birthdays

[cjsmith]

I wanted a really special celebration this year, very personalized, with close friends who think I'm awesome.

Well, I sorta neglected to
- keep some time free to schedule any sort of activity
- figure out just what sort of thing I'd like to do and with whom
- have a close-knit group of friends who all know each other

So it's looking a little different. Know what? I must say it ROCKS.

It started over a week ago now. So far, specifically in honor of my birthday, I have
- done one and a half jigsaw puzzles
- consumed multiple glasses of wine
- opened several fun cards and a couple presents
- eaten a scrumptious bbq-pork-and-ALL-the-trimmings dinner with two Los Angeles friends
- been sung to, blown out candles, and eaten ice cream cake
- eaten at Kabul with SIXTEEN PEOPLE (!!) all of whom were under strict vows of secrecy until I showed up (!!!)
- been sung to, blown out candles, and eaten chocolate cake (yeah, not stuttering, second cake)
- played a few rounds of TCRF aka Oh Hell
- gone to a paint-your-own-pottery place (hey, second childhood here) and painted a spoon rest with a starry sky showing the Big Dipper (cue the groans)

A lot of this is Rob's doing. And my birthday itself isn't even for another week!

Rob really got me with that dinner at Kabul last night. He'd been asking me for days whom I would want to invite if I were having a party. I kept thinking that I didn't know what the party would be -- wine tasting would want a different crowd than a card game party. I also kept thinking that the only free day coming up was going to be October 13. In particular, I knew yesterday was busy; I was calling at a square dance for a good chunk of the day and we had two houseguests that evening. So I didn't come up with an answer for him. Heck, I had two more weeks, right?

So Rob gamely invited a couple of my LJ-friends whom he had never even met, a small pile of pilot buddies, a coworker from my previous job, and pretty much the entire square dance we were at. He got all the non-dancers to gather at the restaurant early, sent one of the square dancers off for cake (thank you, Jane!), told several other square dancers to decline any dinner invitation I might make, maneuvered me into agreeing that Kabul was the restaurant a small handful of us should choose that evening, got most folk to "say goodbye" at the end of the dance and "go home", told me we were going to go eat in an hour because "Jane has an errand to run", made sure he took a good forty minutes just to sign fyellin's logbook so we wouldn't arrive early, and trolled for parking in such a way as to be pretty sure I wouldn't see layer's distinctive license plate.

Then we walked in and a bunch of people yelled SURPRISE and I couldn't, for about the first half minute, figure out why. Weren't we SUPPOSED to be eating at this restaurant? Why does Tim have a camera out? (I did my usual response to a camera: making a wild goofy face.) Except... wow, this table sure is big, and... what is Shantanu doing here? And Andres? Wait a minute. OH. A surprise party for ME. I suspect that's approximately when I turned bright red.

So my birthday has been pretty darn good so far, and I won't technically even reach it until next weekend. That day, I will watch airshow acro from a boat on the Bay, maybe do some fun stuff that evening if I can figure out what it should be and whom to invite (hey, cards and wine anybody?), and the following day go to a class on oxy-acetylene cutting and welding.

And the 13th is still free. Heh.

Comments

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I'm the 6th. You are a Libra too? I think the best part of being an October baby (well, ok, that's *most* of Libra anyway) is the opal birthstone. I adore opals.

[ladyqkat.livejournal.com]

September Libra here - 24th - 1° of Libra. I used to do the month-long b'day celebration. When I lived in the Bay Area Northern Ren Faire was 'my' b'day prezzie to myself at least one weekend. My last 'grand' celebration was my 50th - 9 years ago.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

A very happy belated birthday, then!

I wouldn't want a grand celebration every year, but it's good to have one occasionally. This is the first one I've had, I think. Are you going to go for a grand one next year? :)

[ladyqkat.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

Celebration plans will be dependent on our social situation next year. Three years of near isolation tends to limit one's options.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Ouch. Yes, that's true. Sometimes it's nice to have a little quiet celebration with just two people, but admittedly that's a lot nicer when it was a *choice*.