Erin & I celebrate our shared birthday last year at Lucha Libre Taco Shop, June 2nd 2009
So, today I turn 34. Dang I am old. Here’s how long I’m going to lament about getting older. (One mississippi, two mississippi, three mississippi.)
That’s enough self-pity. I feel better now.
Now back to being bossy.
I’m not much of a birthday guy. I like other people’s birthdays. I love my children’s birthdays. But I don’t really get into my birthday. Maybe I have daddy issues? Maybe I am not over getting a Grover birthday cake when I was 5 when I really wanted a Cookie Monster cake? Or maybe I’m just socially awkward? Who cares… let’s talk about what you can do for me on my birthday.
Three ways that you can celebrate my birthday which will make me smile.
Give to my Haiti fund. $5, $10, $20. If you aren’t able to go please make it a bit easier for Kristen, Erin, and I to be Good News in Port-au-Prince this July. We’ve raised about $750 of the $2500 we need.
Meet me at Triple Crown Pub tonight at 7. A dive bar is a weird place to ask you to show up, I know. Here’s the fun bit. Every penny of profit for whatever you order will go to the Haiti Fund. That’s right boys-n-girls. The Triple Crown by be a dive bar– but the owner has a big heart and is willing to make it easy for you to give.
Today Megan, my oldest child, turns nine. To celebrate I thought it would be appropriate to share nine things that are awesome about Megan.
She is beautiful but not in a girly, make-up, gotta have the best of everything kind of way.
She has a crazy fun friendship with her cat, Lovely Gorgeous. She is the only one in the family who can run and grab Lovely at any time. For some reason the cat will even hold still as Megan tries to teach her tricks.
Imagination flows out of every pour of her body. Megan creates elaborate story lines and transforms her bedroom into all sorts of things. Right now her bedroom is a magic wand shop. Complete with homemade wands for $.05, used wands for $.02, and wand repairs for $.01.
Speaking of money, she is crazy entrepreneurial. She is constantly creating ways to create businesses.
She loves origami. Her ability to make the most complex things with paper astounds me.
Like her mom, she is a reader. We have every gadget a kid could want– and yet a trip to the library is the best adventure we can offer.
She is brave. Megan might not be the most outgoing kid on the block, but she is eager to try hard things and to explore. Living near the ocean has really brought this out.
She is nice to her little brother. I don’t know how she does it as Paul does his best to bug her. She will be the first to volunteer for time away from him, but she has found a way to love and include him that I adore.
Her face is hilariously expressive. Her mom is the queen of dirty looks. I am pretty good at making funny faces. But Megan is insanely good at making all sorts of faces and expressions.
That’s right. 33 years baby. 32 was so nice I am reluctant to give it up. But alas the planet went all the way around the sun… and since it worked so hard to do that I’ll leave 32 behind and just plan on making 33 feel better by accepting its label for the next 365 days.
Crazy fact: While I hit the 1/3 century mark this year. My mom is only 39. Go figure.
Party with me:That’s right. You can see me live and in person [better than dead and on TV] at Lucha Libre in San Diego tonight. We are joining up with another Great American, Erin from our community group, and together we will dine in the Champions Booth… enjoying its amazing gold pleather boothiness while eating our tacos on fine china. Starting at 6:30 we will enjoy tacos, TJ hotdogs, and soda pop.
Eight years. Two thousand nine hundred and twenty-two days. Seventy thousand one hundred and twenty eight minutes. Four million two hundred and seven thousand six hundred and eighty seconds.
Our daughter turns eight today. Unlike last year, there were no tears as she welcomed eight into her life. She has been counting down the days and finally it is here.
Seven has been a big year for her. A year ago she proclaimed that one day her and Paul would move back to Romeo and buy back 449 N. Bailey Street. A year ago she was almost done with first grade. A year ago she hadn’t driven across the United States with me. A year ago she hadn’t even been to San Diego.
The last year has been one adventure after another. She has become our wave hopping beach lover. She has learned to swim. She has started to learn to ride a boogey board. She has become infatuated with nature, wildlife, and learning all about animals. She has mastered addition and subtraction and begun multiplication and division. She has learned how to save $50 of her allowance. She has learned how to stay up super late reading big thick books.
As a seven year old Megan survived six months of sharing a bedroom with her little brother.
Much has changed for Megan in the last 12 months. But some things haven’t. She is still loving and kind. She still loves to trick us. She still loves stories. She still lives in a pretend world, in a good way. She has tried new things like hip hop class. She has been very brave in making new friends at Darnall. She doesn’t even notice/care that she is a minority. She can still out-fart 90% of men in the world. She is still a picky eater.
When we asked Megan how she wanted to celebrate we kind of hoped we could talk her into celebrating over the weekend. She wouldn’t have that. So rather than have much of a party she opted for a family trip to Sea World after school. Last night we shared some Shamu birthday cake with our community group, today she is taking cupcakes to school… and then at noon we are grabbing the kids from school [they have a half day each Tuesday] and spending the rest of the day watching the dolphins, dogs/cats, penguins, and Shamu at our new favorite place on earth.
Eight years. Two thousand nine hundred and twenty-two days. Seventy thousand one hundred and twenty eight minutes. Four million two hundred and seven thousand six hundred and eighty seconds.
