The lighter side of life – staying in touch with friends and family by celebrating the ordinary.
I almost forgot my own birthday – Post 16 of our August Seattle trip
On Friday I got a text message from a number that wasn’t in my contacts. It was from a mortgage broker. I glanced at it, slightly annoyed, and said to John, “It’s just spam. It says to have a happy birthday tomorrow. It’s not my birthday tomorrow.”
Oh. Wait. Tomorrow? My birthday? John and I looked at each other. Unfortunately for John, he’s a terrible actor. He was as surprised as I was. He had that deer-in-headlights, bug-eyed look. I’m pretty sure one of us said, “Oh shit.” At least we were both thinking it.
It was bizarre how totally and thoroughly I had forgotten about it. Just earlier that same day I had been talking to Laura about Alex’s birthday that is coming up soon. But I didn’t remember that my own birthday was coming up even sooner than Alex’s. She probably figured I was just being modest about it. I’ll have to edit my birthday calendar to include my own birthday along with my friends and family so I’ll remember next year!
That afternoon John and I went grocery shopping. We were in middle of shopping when John suddenly said, “wait here a sec” and dashed off, leaving me standing in the produce section. Eye roll. Clearly he was off to buy a card or candy bar or something for my forgotten birthday. Couldn’t he at least waited until I was settled in the car to dash off and leave me stranded? The store’s security guy eyed me as I stood there doing nothing except looking grumpy in the produce section, lol.
I wonder when one of us would have remembered if it weren’t for the spam from the mortgage broker? We would at least have figured it out on my birthday because that’s when the texts from family and friends started coming in. First a note from my sister, and then this wonderful video from Laura.
I don’t know when or where I learned that alternative birthday song, but I always used to sing it to the kids. I still will occasionally sing it over the phone or to their voicemail on their birthdays. So I got a full video version from Laura, live from Pismo Beach, where she is on a company retreat this weekend. It was good of her to work in a mnemonic so I can remember how old I am, lol.
For my birthday we took a day trip down to Olympia. I’ll post pictures from Olympia soon. I still have a few other trips from the last couple of weeks to get posted. We’re still in Seattle and we’ve been doing so much, I can’t keep up!
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