My Birth Week. Get On Board, People!

If you don't already know me, you may not know my concept of a birth week. Birthday's are way too limited. One day? To celebrate the wonderment that is ME? No no no. This just won't do. I kid. In all honesty, I decided to celebrate birth weeks probably back in my college days. If your birthday falls on an inconvenient day, well, you're just out of luck, aren't you? Not me. A birth week assures you a Friday or Saturday night on which to have your party. It assures you plenty of time in which to receive cards and gifts from all over the country. I mean, it's just plain fun, ok? So get on board with this people. You're all wonderful gifts from God to this world. You should celebrate the week surrounding the anniversary of your arrival accordingly.

In all honesty, I have to say, I really claim a birth month. October (or "Rocktober", as I like to call it) has always been MY month. When my step dad entered my life, I had to share it with him. But he's a gracious man and has never hogged it. So Rocktober is always exciting when it arrives because it heralds my entire birth month. YEAH APRIL FOR BIRTHING THIS BABY!!!

So this past weekend could have been the kick off to my birth week. It's stretching the concept a bit but when has that ever stopped me? Let's pretend it did. So that will allow my segue into a little segment I like to call "What I Did This Weekend."

This past weekend was my first weekend without the boys due to the visitation of my oh-so-loverly divorce. Future ex and I are getting along - as well as we can. I'm playing nice and he is just...well, he's just himself. I'll leave it at that. So it was one of his weekends with the boys and he finally has a place. I packed up all their stuff and drove them the 25 minutes to his place.

I will just put this in here because it's relevant to the rest of the story. I visited future ex's apartment because I'm an idiot and believe that we can someday be friends. I'm an idiot only because I keep thinking that some day can be now. So I went in and took a look around. And saw that it's basically a really cool newly furnished apartment that screams future ex and his girl thing. Complete with pictures of the happy couple looking all gooby and delightful. Said gooby picture was a bit too much for me so I ended up making a quick retreat, tossing booster seats to future ex, and making a mad dash for the highway in tears. I cried the whole way home. I'm thanking God for the bumper to bumper traffic that went about 20 mph because I could barely see through the tears as I drove. Isn't that fun? Yes. Well, on to the actual FUN part of the weekend.

So I got home and my wonderful neighbor and best friend Sandy came over immediately to soothe my tears with pizza. She stood and listened to me gush and blubber until it was all over and I snapped myself out of it. Then my other wonderful neighbor Kim came over with a lovely bottle of wine. I was actually worried about this because who needs a weepy, morose, drunk, divorcee on a Friday night? Apparently, neither of them were worried about this so neither was I. Fortunately, Kim had the good sense to get a wine that is very light in the alcohol department. So we just all sipped wine and talked and talked and laughed and had a really fun time. Have I mentioned that Sandy and Kim both totally rock and I adore them?

After the girls left around 11pm, I puttered. You ever been in a big house with no kids when you're totally used to having kids there? And it wasn't even the fear of that nebulous arm under my bed that I just know will grab my ankle as I get into bed. It was just the emptiness. The total quiet. It's like screaming quiet. So I did what any normal person in my position would do. I grabbed my wine glass with the last of the wine, went into my office, opened up a bin of keepsake pictures and started sorting through them. From 11pm to about 3am, I found old pictures, scanned them and posted them on my MySpace site. I used to do live band photography in Boston for years. So I was finding some rather humorous photos of bands that don't exist any more. And some that should never have existed! I posted them and then went to those friends' sites and said, dude, you have to go check out the pictures on my site! So for the next few days, I had amused comments on my site about the pictures. How young we were. How we miss those days. How did we ever wear those clothes or that hair or whatever. It was a hoot. Glad I took the time. I still have 2 bins sitting here waiting for more pilfering. Should be fun.

On Saturday, you'd think I would have slept until noon. No such luck. I'm like Pavlov's mom. Conditioned to only sleep for 6 hrs a night. I woke up at 9am. Totally unfair. But good because I had a baby shower to go to and hadn't gotten a present. So I went shopping for baby stuff and ended up with about 4 cute baby things and about 5 tops for me. I'm sure the baby won't mind.

The baby shower was for a church friend so it was very nice. Lovely group of people. I must confess that I've never been friends with so many...I guess...traditional girls? I have never in my life been to a baby shower or wedding shower where they play games. I would have ridden anyone who suggested such a thing out of town. But my church girls rock. And I will play any game they ask me to play. And I had fun doing it. Sue me.

After the girly shower, I drove to my sister's house. She and my Ridiculously Tall Bro-In-Law informed me that they were going to treat me to a night out on the town. She wanted me to have a night that got better in the telling. Let's see if that's the case.

They took me to this awesome place on South Congress in Austin, Hotel San Jose. I totally plan to stay there some time. I just have to find the excuse. I might just make one up. It's gorgeous and totally affordable (or maybe that's just because I'm used to NY or Boston prices). We met some of their fabulous and fun friends there for drinks. Which cracks me up, having been a tea totaller for almost 2 decades. They have an outdoor courtyard with tables & chairs. The landscaping is gorgeous. It's secluded from the street and you can see the night sky. We sat around talking while having a drink. Unbelievably gorgeous. And I was still in shorts & short sleeves in October (sorry all you shivering New Englanders!). I got to hold the 4 month old baby of one of sis's best friends. He is adorable and I enjoyed just holding him and smelling the top of his cute baby head.

Then we went to a place across the street called Homeslice Pizza. It's a pizza joint, if you're not quick on the uptake. I thought they were kidding about the name but they weren't. There was a 30-40 min wait for a table. For pizza. So we went back to their outdoor patio (have I mentioned these outdoor patios are one of the main reasons I moved to Austin?). We had another drink or two while we waited. We talked more and I got to hear the "how did you meet" stories of my sister and her hubby as well as her friends. Always fun to get history on people. Especially when they're good story tellers.

The pizza was worth the wait. Good New York style pizza is always worth the wait. And to find it in Texas? Seriously. That's just weird. Weird but yummy. So we ate, we talked, I drank a ton of water and Coke to make sure I could drive. And I can assure you, their bathrooms were clean. It was a blast.

The plan was to continue on to The Continental Club for after dinner drinks and more fun conversation. But I was fading and I had to get back home to prep food for church the next day.

I am proud to say that I woke up on time Sunday and made it to church in time to rehearse with the band. Future ex dropped the boys off for church so I got to see them. Worship rocked the house. God was there, for sure. The sermon rocked - as usual. My entire church body just makes me smile. They are amazing and I love being there. If I could somehow finagle having church every day, I would.

But don't you think that was a killer couple of days for...
A) A newly single mom on her first weekend without the kids?
B) Someone kicking off their birth week?
C) A total home-body who needs to get out?
D) All of the above?

And the answer is yes. Yes it was.

Oh and Trish? I've been told by a friend to try a pomegranate martini. So we have to try that when we're in Boston.

10/16/07 Edited: Oh...to answer the queries - my actual birth day is Oct 20th!