My Anniversary...

Today is my birthday. To put it in terms that align more with my mental age more than my chronological age, I celebrated it as follows:

The 23rd anniversary of my 20th birthday or
The 13th anniversary of my 30th birthday or
The 4th anniversary of my 39th birthday.

That last one is how my friend's father used to label his birthdays. It was always in relation to his 39th birthday.

For the last I-don't-know-how-many years, I have never worked on my birthday. It's always a planned vacation day for me. When my children were born, I incorporated this rule for their birthdays, too. They were both born near holidays so that usually helps to not use up too many of my vacation days. But mine is never on a holiday. So I take a day. It's silly but very refreshing.

Today, I would have loved to have slept in. But I woke up at 6:20am, got the kids ready, and drove them to their school and day care. I had every intention to return to bed when I got home. But I didn't really want to waste a whole day sleeping. Oddly.

So at 7:30am, I got a bowl of raisin bran, sat down on the couch, fired up the ol' DVR and watched the 3 episodes of one of my favorite shows I've missed for the last 3 weeks. Let me tell you, watching 3 weeks in a row, fast forwarding through commercials? That's just fun! Sure it's mindless drivel but it's FUN!

After watching that much TV in pretty much one position for that long, I started getting a you've-been-sitting-in-the-same-position-too-long headache. So I hopped in the car and went to Walmart and Target. This is something you moms will get. When you don't have the kids and don't have to work (when does THAT happen at the same time?!), just walking through a store at your own pace is amazing. I can stop and look at anything I want. For as LONG as I want. No one is going, "Mooooom (*big sigh*) how long do we have to look at these CANDLES?!" or "Why do we always have to look at GIRL clothes?" or "When can we go to the toy section?" Granted, I didn't buy anything for me. Well unless gum counts. But I was able to buy some Christmas presents and hide them away. But the whole concept of being able to stop and stare at whatever I wanted? Yah, I was soaking that up.

With money being tight, I haven't spoiled me in a long time. So I went to Starbucks. I didn't get too stupid because money doesn't magically untighten on your birthday. So in stead of the huge java chip frappacino I would have liked to get, I just got a ginormous iced coffee. Very cheap and very yummy.

After getting all wired on good coffee, I dropped in on my parents. My mom is recovering from an incredibly tenacious bronchial infection of some sort. The effort of all that coughing (which I almost spelled "coffing") has exhausted her. She's on the tail end but still having those coughing fits that hit you at the worst times. So I sat and talked with her and dad for a while. Which of course, probably made her cough more. I'm thoughtful like that.

I left my parents to head over to the elementary school for a teacher conference. I wasn't sure what to expect. This teacher doesn't seem to give a lot of direct feedback to the kids so I had no idea which direction this thing might go. Fortunately, it rocked. Nothing better than sitting there having a stranger confirm what you already think about your kid. Well, I suppose that last statement is only true if you LIKE what you already think about your kid. So Pokemon Boy got rave reviews. He's incredibly polite. He's been working very hard on responding the first time she says something. (I resisted the urge to say, "Really? Could you come to my house and get him to do it THERE?") He seems to have made it over that adjusting-to-third-grade hump that can be very hard. He thinks outside the box. He's creative. She likes having him in her class. I was like, Did I pay you to say all of this and it just slipped my mind?

Oh, and best of all - she hasn't seen any tics. She has had a student in the past with severe Tourette's. So she knows what it can be. I was so glad to hear that. Also, Pokemon Boy has commented on a few occasions that not a lot of kids play with him because they think he's kind of strange. He actually used the word "weird" once. I was worried about that and asked her. She said socially, he's completely normal. She sees him working with other kids and getting along with them. He's very good at encouraging his classmates and is very kind. I asked her about anything that might look like he's on the outside. Nothing. HUGE relief.

When I got home, I took Pokemon Boy to Walmart to pick out a birthday present for Lil' Bro. His birthday is right before Christmas so I thought we'd grab something now, while Lil' Bro was still in school. My closet is currently stocked well with Bakugan and Transformers. I live in a boy house for sure.

After picking up Lil' Bro, my parents picked us up and took us to one of my favorite TexMex restaurants. I had enchiladas (which I'm pretty sure man COULD live on alone...or at least I could) and crispy tacos. While I was in the bathroom with Lil' Bro, my mom talked to our waitress. So after the meal, here comes the wait staff with a giant sombrero. They sang some birthday song that included a comment about me getting old (Pokemon Boy made sure to point that out after the song), plopped the sombrero on my head and gave me a big bowl of fried ice cream and whipped cream. YUM!!!

The ice cream rocked. Putting a sombrero on my head that has graced who knows HOW many other heads with who knows WHAT other skin or hair ailments - yah, that was NOT my favorite part. But it does make for a silly picture. I'll scan that and post it another time. And you will all be amused at how even a giant sombrero looks tiny on my ginormous melon head.

OH! I forgot! After picking up Lil' Bro at day care, I got home to find a vase of flowers on my front porch. BigSis and her TallHubby had them delivered to me. How much do THEY rock? Last week, my church sent me my first birthday card. My aunt Millie sent my 2nd card. Pokemon Boy MADE my 3rd card.

So the anniversary of my birthday rocked.

Thank you God for giving me a fun, stress-free day.