The belated birthday post

In recent years, my birthday hasn't felt much like something of note. You know, a day like any other. And this was shaping up to be more of the same. I do not say this with bitterness, or sadness, or any other -ness that might denote negative feelings. I say it in the matter-of-fact way that I feel it. So many other, bigger, better milestones have been hit in the lat 5 years, my own birthdays pale in comparison. Like many other "special" days for me, the trend has been to take it as a "me" day, to go out, by myself, shopping or manicuring or even just running errands in peace. These days I have a lot of that kind of me time--while I always seem to be busy, it is not busy with a job, and time for errands is a plenty. I did get to bring my mom along for that kind of lovely meandering day, and lunch--a bonus of our new proximity. Dave and I were planning a night out together this time around, but my birthday fell on a Friday, and we forgot to call sooner, and out sitter was busy, and, well, no date night.

So we did something revolutionary. We celebrated my birthday as a family. I know, this is the obvious thing to do for so many of you, but for the first time in my life as a mother, it seemed like such a nice thing to choose to spend time with my kids on my special day instead of cashing in my chips for time off.

We went bowling. A first for the girls. I had noticed a throwback bowling alley on my way to bring the girls to the doctor last month, and it came back to me in a flash of inspiration. They have a little ramp that the girls got to send their balls down, and bumpers to keep them in the lane, and you can order dinner right at your table, lane-side. Eleri got cranberry juice and Clio got chocolate milk, so they were happy....and hyper. But they took turns nicely and waited patiently and didn't get upset if they didn't get a lot of pins down. The people in the lanes on either side of us were charmed by the children. And I bowled okay. Even broke 100. It was a nice birthday.







Though I will admit, it would have been nicer if the snow hadn't rolled in that night, closing airports and keeping Marni from getting here for the show-up-on-the-doorstep surprise she had planned with Dave. Just the thought of it is so wonderful: a night of bowling with my family followed by a weekend of girl talk, good restaurants, wine, and cake with my maid of honor.

Sigh.