December 15, 2004
Birthday Party

Good morning  ...  and welcome to my birthday party.

Don't worry about dressing up: this is definitely not a formal occasion.   As a matter of fact, I'm wearing the same cranjuice-stained T-shirt and floppy boxer shorts I went to sleep in last night: my morning shower is still two hours in the future.  And don't worry about bringing me gifts, either. It's like I'm always telling the Tots  --  your *presence* is *presents* enough.  [Although I AM fond of Amazon gift certificates, fuzzy socks, tacky earrings and jumbo boxes of Aplets & Cotlets  ...]

Grab yourself a mug of Peet's Holiday Blend, pull up a lumpy pillow, and snuggle here next to me in bed for a while.

I don't have to be in the office until noon today.  This is a birthday gift from Jolene, my nice lady boss: she and I were chatting the other day, about how I planned to celebrate my birthday, and I told her that the very best 'present' she could give me would be an extra couple hours of sleep today.  [Lately, the dragging-it-out-of-bed-at-5:30-a.m. routine has really been wearing me down  ...  especially now that Hot Flash Season has begun in earnest.]  She seemed to think that was a fine idea  --  "Take your time," she said.  "The office won't collapse in your absence"  --   so now we've got an extra couple of hours this morning to luxuriate in bed  ...  to putter around the Internet on the laptop  ...  to drink coffee and eat English muffins spread with apple butter and download birthday songs off Napster  ...  to enjoy my birthday morning in rumpled, sweaty, unhurried fashion. 

Bliss.

I've already heard from two out of three Tots this morning: a collect-message call from Kacie, half an hour ago, followed by a video-taped e-message from Kyle.  ("Hope you have a great day," he says solemnly into the camera  ... an old party hat perched on his head.  "And I hope that nobody does anything to mess it up .")   Next to the bed is a huge pile of unopened birthday gifts from Jaymi.  Her package arrived via UPS, two days ago, but I'm waiting until tonight to open everything.  There is also a present from my best online pal and artistic peer, EdmundKaz, which I'll open at the same time I open Jaymi's presents.  And rumor has it that my darling husband went last-minute birthday shopping after work yesterday, so he may be *surprising* me with a little something tonight, over plates of Pad Thai and Imperial Rolls at my favorite neighborhood Thai restaurant.  We'll see what happens.

In the meantime, let's just sit here in bed and enjoy an extra hour of unmitigated birthday blobbery together  ...  shall we? 

I won't even make you play 'Pin The Tail on the Donkey.'

 

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