My 27th Birthday.

Birthdays are weird. I usually dread mine and love other people's. I love the idea of celebrating my friends one at a time periodically through the year. But when it comes to my own I tend to get lost in self-deprecating introspection. This year I didn't know what to expect. I am living in a place with great nice wonderful people, but hardly anyone I've known longer than a few months. I remember back to times when I've been surrounded by my closest friends, and I wondered how this would be different.  Then I tried to be Zen-like and appreciate the golden present. For all of you out there who are curious about what I did for my 27th birthday, here's how it went.  

• There was a storm on Tuesday evening that knocked the power out. My phone was dead until the birthday was almost over, so I didn't get to take any of the nice birthday calls. This was sad because it's the only day of the year I actually get calls. I also didn't see the super nice facebook posts until the next morning. BUT, I was more Zen-like. 

• I was gifted an ice cream cake. My favorite thing about my birthday is ice cream cake. Again, the power was out so it melted in the freezer. BUT, when the power came back on it re-froze, and it's still good even when it's misshaped. I was also sent some yellow tulips from Mom, Dad and Babs. 

• My birthday request: 18 holes of golf.  We had an 8:50 tee-time at Hell's Point golf course.   Sure it took us 6 hours in a cart, but it was so much fun! At first I was all about keeping score, but after the first hole that was not reasonable. Lucky for us, the storm caused the phones at the club to go dead so hardly anyone could schedule a tee time. We took mulligans since we basically had the course to ourselves. We lost about 15 balls. Par was made once, and we had some bogeys. Only my right ear got sunburned. Two of the next three things are true: I want to get really good at golf. I want to buy some long khaki shorts. I want to get my own golf cart to drive around town instead of a scooter. 

• After golfing I went shopping for my favorite line of clothing. I am not going to tell you what that line is, because I don't want to share my secret (but it's awesome!). Then we got some snacks and headed back. 

• Then I hung with some local friends and ate some seafood on Rudee's Inlet!  I crashed around midnight after a couple nightcaps of the 2011 Summertime Special. (Recipe: Frozen drink-in-a-bag mixed with Bud Lime. It might sound naco, but it's perfect.)

I know a lot of people have beef with facebook, but I must give it props as a medium for birthday wishes. Today my heart swelled when I got to see what people posted. I saw names that go all the way back to when I was a kid. It reminds me that even though I might be physically distant from my friends, they are out there still. And for my 27th birthday I was mostly able to avoid the depression and be grateful for the life I've led thus far, and for the people I've met along the way. 

If I can just avoid overdosing this year I'm all set.