Well, I've been busy living life and haven't blogged in about six months. I have many tales to tell. I will skip ahead and come back to a few of those later that I still have a little more research to do before they have been prepared to be told. Today I will tell you about my epically fantastic birthday.
I had big plans for my birthday this year. A quarter of a century is quite the milestone that equally needs to be celebrated as such. It was at least November when I decided that it was high time that I made a trip out to Disneyland with friends.
I was born in so-cal, so in my earliest years, Disneyland was a frequent outing. However, I do not really have any memory of it. My family and I moved to Sacramento when I was four. My younger siblings had never been to Disneyland. The just before the summer after my third grade year my parents told me we all were going to Disneyland! I was so excited. I told all of my friends. Financial things came up and we were unable to go. This pattern continued for several years. I stopped believing it was actually going to happen. I still had a bit of hope inside of me, but when my parents would announce it, I would just smile and nod. Finally the moment came, Thanksgiving of my eighth grade year. As many families often find, vacations can be stressful. Ours was no different. Everyone was always fighting. Also, in a family the size we came in, coming to agreements and getting stuff actually done was quite a task. This lead to more disagreements. Needless to say, I do not have fond memories of that trip.
I often dreamed of a vacation I would go on with my friends, and the memories of joy we would create. I thought, perhaps this would be my time. I made the announcement to my roommates and the one who shares my birthweek was just as excited about it. The only problem with all this planning was I was unemployed at the time. I finally got hired for a job just before Christmas that I would start in January. I now work as an assistant teacher at a daycare. The greatest thing about my job is that I have a teacher's schedule. This means I get all holidays and summers off. The issue with all of this is that I don't get to just take off a random week long road trip whenever I want, such as in the middle of May. So, I knew that my Disneyland plans were foiled at this point.
My roommate who shares my birthweek had a brilliant plan B. There is a place up here in the NorthWest called Great Wolf Lodge. It is a hotel that has a indoor water park that you have to have a room there to use the park. I have always thought it seemed like a fun place. My roommate suggested that for our birthdays and I felt satisfied once again. It was a few hours away, so I would still get my road trip in, even if it is just in mini scale. I even proclaimed that I would pay 75% of the cost of the trip, to take away any monetary burdens my friends might feel in order to make the celebration.
The month of our birthdays is generally an expensive time, as well as a busy in general time. There are added costs because that is also when our lease in our house would be up, putting moving expenses on the table. Besides the busyness of moving, several weddings and graduations were going on this month. Then my other roommate decided she needed to go to Arkansas (where she is from) to visit her family the week of our birthdays. All in all to say, my roommates bailed on the idea of the trip.
My birthday was fast approaching and I was quickly preparing for a depressing year. I needed to think of something equally as exciting and meaningful as a 25th year celebration. I tossed around some ideas here, and others there. I made my decision just days before the actual day. My new plan was to go to McMenamins Edgefield for dinner, and then out swing dancing afterwards. I sent out text messages to all those who lived in the area that I thought would be interested in coming. Most already had other plans being so last minute, but some of my dearest of all friends were able to make it. I got there early to secure a table with my roommate that shares a birthweek with me. We had a bit of time to kill before the table would be ready and when my other friends would be arriving. So we explored the beautiful plantation Edgefield is for awhile. In time, we made our way to the giftshop where I got my birthday present to myself- some 25 cent McMenamins coasters. I got four. As I purchased them, I got the phone call that our table was ready and my friends were just about there.
Dinner was quite pleasant; everyone catching up, reminiscing, and new bonds being made. Then the night got real interesting. During dinner I got a phone call. It was from my friend Chelsea. She had mentioned a few months before that her friends band would be coming into town that weekend and would be staying the night there. She had told me she was going to work on getting them a place to stay. I hadn't thought about that conversation for at least a month at this point. She called me because she hadn't found them a place to stay and to see if I could work something out. I called the preacher from my church and asked if I had permission to house them at the church if I took responsibility for them. He said as long as I kept my watchful eye on them he was fine with that idea. I let Chelsea know and she gave my contact information to her friend.
I returned to dinner and then we retired to the balcony to continue the good times. Once there, my lovely handed friend shared her massaging skills on a few of us. During this activity, an Italian man had come out to the balcony and decided to demonstrate on us the proper way to massage. It was very strange, nor could we understand him. We chatted, took pictures, and just generally had a good time out there on that balcony. Apparently, one of the tenants of a room connected to the balcony thought we needed to have a little better time. We believe he probably was a little drunk and possibly naked. All of a sudden we hear the window trying to be opened with great difficulty. Once it was open just enough to accomplish what the man was attempting, he continued to try and stuff his box of wine (yeah, that's right) through the barely big enough window space. All the while, we were trying to tell the man- thanks, but no thanks. It took him until he got the box all the way out before he understood we would not be taking it. The evening drew chilly, so we came back inside and wandered the halls.
By this time, it was late and my friends had a ways to travel home. I decided to nix the swing dancing in trade for the good conversation had by all. I took my roommate home, and packed my own things for a night at the Pumphouse with this band I didn't even know. Once my stuff was ready, I went out to the Douglas Fir where I was to meet them. I found them outside of it loading their belongings into a trailer. I introduced my self and simply hung out with them till the show was all over. After their things were good to go, I followed them back inside where we chilled backstage in the green room. This really made my night because I have always wanted to see a show at the Douglas Fir, and now I was hanging out backstage with the band. Now I still have not seen a show there, but it is a giant step in the right direction.
The guys of Apache Relay were all were cool. And it turned out the lead singer (which I didn't know till his departure) shared his birthday with me. Mikey (Birthday boy) and I bonded over our love of Hawthorne street as well as coldstone ice cream. I told them since we shared our birthdays that they were welcome to join me in my celebrations after I got home from work. My actual birthday was on Monday, and I had my big celebration on Sunday. Mikey was all for it. That night was real late. I think it was close to two when everyone was settled in and I was in bed. Despite all that I work up at 7am for work without any trouble at all. I slept in the back classroom to give myself and the boys their space. It was lovely falling asleep to their singing. When I got off work, I was pleasantly surprised by a message that my friend had her baby on this day. I now share my birthday with one 25 years younger than me. I got a hold of the guys and connected back up with them on Hawthorne street. They had been their for awhile. I found a few of them, finishing up their beers at a restaurant they had found. Once they had finished, we went and picked up my cake from Coldstone.
Once I acquired the goods, they followed me back to my place where we shared the cake with my roommates. After we had finished the cake, we prepared to part ways. They informed me that they were having such a good time, that they were thinking about staying an extra day. I told them I was fine with this and they could continue to stay at the church. They wanted to check out one of the fabulous pub-theaters Portland houses. We found a showing they were interested in at the Bagdad theater, which I had always wanted to go to. The movie they chose was a horrible one. Still I was happy to be there with these great gentlemen. We went back to the church and in the morning we cleared out. It was a great few days. I didn't want it to end. I stayed as late as possible before I would be late to work. We parted with hugs and a hands in "go Portland" cheer.
I admittedly felt lost for a few days without these friends around any more. I thankfully had more birthday greatness to come. The next week my roommate returned from her Arkansas vacation. They took me to Portland City Grill, another place I have been longing to go to, for dinner and dessert. Our waitresses name was Cassandra so we bonded over that. Dinner was kind of gross, but Dessert was free and delicious. The cool thing about Portland City Grill is that it is on the top floor of the tallest building in Portland. When we finished eating, we walked around the perimeter to see the amazing views of the city. Following dinner I had my roommates drop me off at swing dancing.
I figured I'd find a ride or just take the MAX home. When swing dancing was over we did our traditional crystal ballroom for post-dancing drinks. By now it was one in the morning. My friends had parted, I thought the MAX ran till 2am. Turns out it stops at one. Oops. Well, I wandered the deserted streets of downtown for a half hour when I found the last bus still running. Thankfully it was one that went rather close to my home. It was at the point that I got on the bus that I realized I did not have my house keys with me. Oh no. I made it to my house at about a quarter after two. I attempted to see if my roommates had come to the same realization I had, and stuck my keys outside somewhere safely. No dice. I then tried to break in my house. I came to find that it is near impossible to break in. I checked my vehicle as well as my roommates to see if they had been left unlocked. No luck there either. I tried calling my roommates, texting them, and knocking on the door. None of the above got a response. Finally I went to my last resort- ringing the doorbell. Relief. The entrance was opened and I was able to retire to my bed.
On the last day of the month, I was going about my regular day. I had come home from work and was hanging out in my room. My roommate called me upstairs. I was afraid they were going to talk to me about doing dishes or something. It turned out they had baked me a birthday cake. I was in such shock, surprise, and just touched over all that I almost cried. I had no idea that they would do something like this for me. I may not have gotten any presents, but at least I got birthday cake. It may not have been anything spectacular in a big way, but it lasted well into the next month and that was special to me. I can't wait to see what the next 25 years have in store. Thank you to each and everyone who has made me who I am today.
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