Birthday Review - Part I

When I sat down to write this, I fully intended to wrap up the birthday week with a short recap of all the festivities and a few reflections thrown in for good measure. Then I spent almost an hour working on a recap of all the awesome that was the day before my birthday, so I decided that I would have to turn the birthday sage into a multi-part series. This seems more than a little self-indulgent, but what isn’t self-indulgent about writing about yourself non-stop for a year? It’s been a big build-up to thirty, and I’m going to give the event its due. So there.

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On Birthday Eve, Tom and I headed to my parents’ for birthday/engagement celebrations. There was champagne and wine and a delicious celebratory dinner of seared tuna, grilled asparagus, Greek salad, and of course, birthday cake à la Ben and Jerry’s mode.

Following dinner, Tom and I were presented with ridiculously generous birthday gifts. I suspect that this was a purposeful attempt to lessen the crushing despair that is sure to come when we truly realize that our twenties are behind us. I kid, my parents made fairly convincing arguments that the thirties are great, and Mo even pretended that she’s looking forward to them. Whatever the motivation, it was an embarrassment of riches.

Mo presented me with a gift certificate to the Intimacy boutique, home of the illustrious Bra Whisperer. Not only does the Bra Whisperer have the Oprah stamp approval, she trained under the Queen of England's Royal Bra Fitter! [Editor’s Note: That last fact was taken from an article titled “Bra Whisperer is San Diego’s Breast Friend,” so judge the credibility as you will.] I am more excited than I should admit to go find out if I am among the 85% of women currently wearing the wrong bra size!

{Tell me all your secrets Bra Whisperer.}

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I was still riding high on thoughts of meeting Oprah’s bra guru when I unwrapped the first box from my parents. Months ago, I asked my mom if, for my thirtieth birthday, Tom and I could use a week of their timeshare trade program, so I was stoked to unwrap a voucher for just that. As I’ve said before, my passport is getting restless, so I was so excited to be able to start thinking about possible destinations. There were, however, still two presents left to open, one for me and one for Tom. We unwrapped them to find a pretty, suede travel jewelry case and an international adaptor respectively.  Being a huge fan of the theme gift, I was impressed – well done, Mom!  Then I opened the case, and Tom looked more closely at the paper his adaptor had been wrapped in. These cute, travel-themed gifts came with vouchers for airfare as well! I could not have been more surprised/overwhelmed/speechless with gratitude. 

 It looks like my passport is going to have a lot less to complain about in the very near future! Needless to say, the last night of my twenties was filled with happy, hopeful dreams of all of the travel possibilities to come next year and in all the years that follow. Thanks again, Mom and Dad. Not just for the gifts, but also for instilling in me a love of travel adventures. I don’t know how I got so lucky.

{My family rocks. I can't wait until we are six (er...nine!) again.}