Hello all... Ok. I turned the big 3-0 on Saturday. At midnight the night before I was out at a club with a girlfriend (don't that much anymore, ok, pretty much not at all). Everyone around me thought it was awesome and kept buying me shots. The next thing I remember....(how many stories start that way? Now I have the first drunken story of my thirties) I was on the dance floor. Long time since that happened too. I had so much fun. We went to another bar, then to breakfast at like 4am. We were back at my friend's place at 5am. I didn't tell her this, but I felt so happy I couldn't get to sleep. It was the first positive attention I'd gotten from someone other than my children or mother in a long time. To be very honest, I was dreading my birthday with a passion. By the morining of I felt okay with being thirty. So I go home and wait for my family to start with the birthday phone calls, my brother singing Happy Birthday to me, my sister being so sweet and wanting to know what I'd do for myself that day, my mom calling to tell me she remembered what she was doing exactly 30 years ago at that moment and then requesting"God Blessed Texas" from the radio station (because 30 years ago that day, He had...=), my dad calling to tell me how proud he is of me. But I come home, my husband is in bed, he barely wakes up and says Happy Birthday before he goes back to sleep. So I sit on the couch and wait for phone calls. I talked to my mother and I got a happy bday from her, but no one calls. I know I'm going to dinner at her house that night (which has been suspicious, but I had accepted that), but I really expected to hear from everyone. Dad calls to say, Happy Birthday now you are really old. Really Really old and I'll see you tonight. So I shower, get dressed and decide, I guess everyone is just going to see me tonight. So I get to mom's around 5pm to find this huge elaborate spread. All for me. My sister had been planning with my mom for months. It was beautiful, but to honest, I didn't get it when I first walked up. I thought, "Why has Robin brought pink tablecloths when my favorite color is purple?" Then, "Why are there wedding bells hanging from the walkway?" Then,"Why is everything labled strangly and so very southern (I'm not in denial, I do realize I'm a southern woman in every sense of the word, but still...)?" Then I get it. Robin (my sister-in a word FABULOUS) has planned this themed party after my favorite movie...Steel Magnolias. The tablecloths were blush and bashful. The wedding bells, the southern theme, the pork and beans. If you haven't seen the movie, watch it then read this again. Then everyone started showing up. All of my very favorite people in the world. My boys, my family, my brother,sister in law and the neices and nephews, including the brand new one in the oven (March 7th!). My cousins, aunts, uncles, parents in law, my best girlfriend, my best gay, everyone was there! I had no idea everyone would be there, I felt so loved. Then the best part, it's time for the cake. My amazing sister comes out with, you guessed it, a bleeding armadillo cake. (Like I said, watch the movie) It had grey icing, I don't even begin to know how you make grey icing. My sister made it herself. Imagine! So fabulous, as soon as I have pictures, I'll post. Then what my sister had made me. These plaques with my favorite lines from the movie. "Nothing like a good peice of ass" "The only thing that separates us from the animals is our ability to accessorize" "If you don't have anything nice to say, come sit by me" "No one cries alone in my presence." Then some left and I opened gifts. I got lots of great thing but the big thing from my husband and family was a professional mixer, something I've wanted since I got married but have never been able to afford it. It is so beautiful and I can't wait to use it. Then some more left and we were down to just a few. Me, my hubby, my sister, my mom and dad, my momo (think aunt, sort of), my friend, and my boys. My girlfriend sang for us, beautifully, my son peed in the yard and then my hubby took them to stay at the other grandparents for the night. He came back and we all sat up and told stories and laughed, discussed how I missed my grandmother and wished she could have been at the party. (I still miss you mother). Laughed, some drank, stayed up until 2am. I came back home to reall life yesterday morning but I'm sitting here thinking fondly of my birthday. Even watched Steel Magnolias yesterday afternoon. I didn't think I'd see thirty, now the outlook isn't so bad.
I'm tickled pink.
Love you all and thanks for the birthday wishes!
Sarah
