Me, Only Older

Yesterday was my 38th birthday. Kind of surreal, but then again, not really so different from 37, or even 36 for that matter. I think, I hope, I'm getting better with age--that makes the whole aging thing worth it.

I actually like my birthdays. I think it's fun to celebrate being me, having been born into this world (I thanked my mom for that), living another year, getting all the fun, sweet attention. I wasn't expecting much in the way of celebrating this year, though, because my birthday fell on a busy school day. I have class on Friday nights and leave the house at 4:30pm, not to come home again until 10:30pm, and then have to be back at school by 8am Saturday morning until 1pm. Not really conducive to our traditional family party.

I was up the night before trying to watch BBC's Titus Andronicus and follow along in my copy of the play. Being so exhausted from allergy medicine, I went to bed fairly early. Lyndsay came in to kiss me goodnight around 9:30pm--she had been studying for her AP US History exam in the morning--and I don't think I made it even another 10 minutes with Titus before falling asleep.

In the morning, when I came downstairs to take the kids to Seminary, I saw this on the table:

Sweet Adam. He snuck out late at night after I'd fallen asleep so that I would be surprised. The best part was his heartfelt letter. Always my favorite. It made me cry, both because of the sentiments and because he thought to make it a surprise.

But then, walking into the kitchen, I saw dishes in the sink that I'd left clean before going to bed. Weird dishes, like bowls and beaters, and I said out loud, "What the heck?" I looked around and didn't see anything, so I opened the fridge. And there I saw:

This little tiny cake. Lyndsay had kissed me goodnight and then come back downstairs, the night before her big exam, and secretly baked me a chocolate cake, so that I wouldn't have a cake-less birthday. Her gesture melted my heart. I love that the frosting on the sides is melted off because it was so late at night that she couldn't stay up long enough to let the cake cool all the way. I love my Lyndsay.

That was a good enough birthday right there. But then I got some money in the mail from my mom and decided to quick go and treat myself to a pedicure before I bought gas with it, or milk. And then a friend called and said she was coming to pick me up for lunch in ten minutes.

When I got home there was a gift waiting for me from my friend---a new canning set! Think of my mad jam making skills now! And then a beautiful bouquet of Gerbera daisies arrived from Amber! I'm the luckiest girl I know, I think. So, with a heart full of birthday happiness, I went off to school to spend the rest of the evening, and miracle of miracles, guess what? She let us out an hour early! And Adam was waiting up for me. . .