It’s my birthday.

The first order of business? An admission. I turned 30 today. Oh geez, okay. I’m 33. However, I do appreciate the one friend who texted, “u make 40 look good” and the other who confirmed that I’m actually beginning my 34th year. Yeah, thanks for that.

Today was great. It started with opening my eyes to a sleeping 60-pound monster and his miniature monkey nestled snugly in my back on my bed. After he came to, he presented me with the card he made for me last night. It read, “happy brthday mom, 33”. It was perfect.

Then, my favorite coffee shop gifted me with a cup o’ joe. I love them. (even if they only love me because they’ve come to rely on me for income)

At work, I was showered with cards, flowers and gifts. That wasn’t terrible, either.

I got to cut out early so I could pick up CJ and I’d been trying to figure out something cool we could do together. My first request of him was to take a picture with me. Thankfully, he’s learned to appreciate the camera vs. hate it and we had the most fun. The best part was CJ asking to focus and pressing the shutter. Then, we would race to get to see the resulting photo. This one was my favorite:

mr. photogenic pants and his old mom

Do you think now that I’m 33 I should stop wearing hair ties as bracelets? Nah, I didn’t think so either.

We finished up homework and decided to head to Biggby since they also gifted me with a free birthday cup o’ joe. Connor got his souped-up magic milk while I unnecessarily re-caffeinated and we headed out to my parents’ for a walk in the woods. I don’t know what made me think of heading to the back forty but I hadn’t been in a while and I wanted to visit the tree my grandpa had loved so much. Connor was on a major sugar high and tried to ‘incredible hulk’ every stick he found … carrying them, throwing them, hitting other trees with them. He even tried to pull down a couple trees, firmly rooted in the cold earth. We were just about to ‘Pete’s Tree’ when my sister and her bunch arrived. We spent a few minutes admiring the tree. It’s special to all of us. It grows around a rock and just … has a story. It was bittersweet because it’s also a reminder that some of those we wish could be there weren’t.

It started to get dark so we headed back. I almost literally couldn’t talk due to the chill in the air, but I was so glad we took the little hike. My poor mom wasn’t able to go and I know she was bummed, but somebody had to support all of us slackers for goodness sake. Plus, then she could get right on top of preparing the hot (with ice) chocolate Connor always requests.

We finished the evening with a nice breakfast and a couple Star Wars books.

Overall, a great day. I used to get so bummed out that my birthday was so close to Christmas. Everyone’s tired of shopping and the last thing they want to do is buy more gifts. But, like I explained to my mom, it’s not about the gifts. It’s the people. It’s feeling loved. That’s the only gift I really needed. And, thankfully, I got it.

the best gift