Birthday Remix

So far, I've had four birthdays. One fabulous dinner with B in Durham over Labor Day weekend, one fabulous dinner thrown by B for my college girlfriends (minus one!) in Durham, one fabulous dinner out with my Birmingham girls last night, and one more fabulous dinner to come tomorrow when I go to Grandma dinner at the church. And yes, they sing. You haven't lived until you've had 150 blue-hairs singing to you the sweet birthday song. Makes my heart happy.

Last night, on my actual birthday, my Birmingham girlfriends took me out for a surprise dinner. Granted, I knew we were going to dinner, just not where, which might've been the best gift of all.

The past few weeks have gotten super busy. Beside trying to line up appointments for hair cuts, dress shopping, and SOS (Save Our Sanity) video chats with B, I've also been working to help throw a co-worker's baby shower (super fun) and a high school girlfriend's lingerie shower/bachelorette weekend. I've been in planning overdrive, so, seriously, half their gift was not making me pick the restaurant!

J picked me up at 6:30 ("Wear a dress!" was all I'd gotten up to that point) and we drove to... Gian Marco's! Gian Marco's is a super-cute Italian bistro that's "casual white tablecloth" at its best. It's loud and boisterous, but only so because all the diners are regulars and they're genuinely happy to see each other, and their favorite waiter, again.

So I spent a few hours seated at the perfect round table with four of my best friends in the world hearing about their lives, opening presents, and eating quite possibly the best spaghetti and meatballs in the world. Simple order, you say? This sauce, the Sunday Sauce, has a its own name. You can't tell me that doesn't guarantee it to be good, and it was. Oh it was.

It was the perfect night--toasts, stories, and fun presents that I'd really wanted... fun earrings, purses, and a photo of our five-some, ironically enough, at another birthday event a few months ago. Plus a season of Sex & The City, wine glasses, more earrings, and fun cocktail napkins.

As I looked around the table at these girls, I just felt really blessed. When I moved to Birmingham, I never really saw it as becoming "home," but rather more of a stop-over en route to wherever else I was suppose to be. Then I made friends, got a job, got a roommate, and found myself happily settled into this stage of life. I love these girls, especially, because they are new friends and I'm still learning about them. It's a totally different experience than when I'm with my high school girls (LOVE THEM!) who have known me for at least 20 years each, or my college girls, who went through those crazy four years with me.

Birthdays can be letdowns... you feel like you've got a big day coming to you, but then it's over and you're still you, and somehow that suddenly seems lacking. But this year was different--I went home, got into my bed, and felt totally happy, loved, and blessed. Good birthday, great friends, fantastic year.