A Twenty-Something No More

Yesterday was a big birthday.  I haven't been one of those people who freaks out at the idea of turning 30, but it did sort of surprise me every time I said it aloud as it approached.  So, when the day finally came, I was more or less prepared, and I feel more or less the same at 30 as I did when I was 29.  BUT, I had a splendid birthday, and I have Julie to thank the most for it!

From the earliest moments of waking up, Julie sprinkled little surprises throughout the day.  There was a mysterious box under the covers when I came back from using the loo, and when I opened it, I was excited to discover this! 

I have named it Jeeves.

It's been on my wishlist for quite a while, but I was totally not expecting it.  It has GPS and tracks your distance, time, calories burned and pace.  I let it charge, then took it for a trial run and it worked perfectly!  (Though I admit I was a little vexed when those everlasting Provo traffic lights interfered with my time and pace.)  I remember once when I used Amber's for a race and I thought the clock was my pace the entire time, and I kept wondering WHY in the world it kept going up!  Ha ha haaa.  Anyway, that was a great surprise.

Then a couple other surprises popped up here and there during the morning and evening, in my clothes drawer when I went to get dressed, in the fridge as I started to make our lunches, and on the Wii games when I went to put in Donkey Kong, and by the end of the day, I had the entire Prydain Chronicles series, which I was SO excited about.  I haven't read them in years, and since I just finished reading a pretty weak book series, I'm looking forward to starting some actual award-winning, time-tested quality literature.

We did have to spend the day at work, where I received a nice big bag of beef jerky from Mom and Dad (I promise I'll share, Wife!) but I was really amazed and delightfully overwhelmed at the total onslaught of birthday wishes on Facebook.  I love a Facebook birthday party and just kept laughing as email notifications kept popping up.  I think by end of day I had like 100+ messages on there.  I felt so loved!  Family and friends alike were so thoughtful.  (And here I thought everyone on Facebook thought I was a snarky pill, which they still might, but at least they were nice to me on my birthday!)  Special mention to Elise for creating this beautiful work of art:

After work we walked to Brick Oven for some amazing food (it's been quite a while since we ate there, and I still love it so, even though they insist on continually raising the prices, and even though they have rotated the photo of me as Harry Potter out of the photo display case in the lobby), and we sat in the Nostalgia Booth, and I was treated with their birthday pie, and didn't even have to suffer the indignity of being sung to!  Score.

I ordered the special!  It was a good decision.

Julie upgraded to the salad bar.  She also made the right decision.

Behold the magical floating pie!

Still, we decided we had to have some birthday cake, so we made one, and it was chocolate, and it had peppermint granules in it, and it was delicious.  We spent the rest of the night watching Survivor and America's Next Top Model with Leland, who brought me a humongous bag of peanut M&M's.

This is me with the cake.  I'm turning 7!

This is me thinking about what to wish for.

This is me after I blew out the candles.

Finally, there was another delightful surprise from Julie:

A beard trimmer!

 

At last, I don't have to try to trim with scissors and end up with a patchy and still scraggly beard!  I'll look so groomed and nicely-bearded and it won't grow too long and go into my mouth and interfere with my food (gross, I know) or be too itchy.  I guess I better keep the beard for good now!

In recent years I haven't been one to make a huge deal of my birthdays, but I do say that Julie has made my last few birthdays so memorable and exciting.  She tries so hard to surprise and delight me on my day of birth, and I hereby vow to do likewise when hers comes rolling around in May.  She said "happy birthday!" to me many times throughout the day, just because this is the only day you can.  And to top it all off, Celine Dion even sang "Happy Birthday" to me on the TV.  But it's not over yet!  We have big plans for Saturday...  Stay tuned.  And now it's St. Patrick's Day.  Somehow it always seems to fall the day after my birthday.  (Ha ha haaa.)

My twenties were filled with a lot of highs and lows, but mostly highs, and things especially started looking up during the mid to later part of the decade.  I finally served a mission, Harry Potter came full circle, I experienced LOST in its entirety, and I discovered pho.  Now that I've actually crossed the big birthday line, I feel a-okay.  I have an awesome wife, a killer family, a great job, I'm in the best shape of my life, and my faith is strong.  I think I'm going to be just fine with being 30.