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July 2003
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I know it's only been two days, but I feel safe in saying that 27 ain't gonna be too bad. I had a fabulous birthday - probably one of the best yet. I wasn't expecting much in the way that you don't feel about birthdays at age 27 that you do at 7, or even 17. It's a fun day and you're sincere in your thanks for the good wishes, but still, it's a Monday. You have to go to work. I stood in the shower and heard my
mom sing the birthday song to my answering machine. Traffic was
easy, and that's always a gift in and of itself, and once I got
to work there were Krispy Kreme donuts waiting for me (which was
also evil) and as soon as the entire department strolled in they
all presented me with a card and a gift certificate to this The rest of the day was filled with
phone calls, gift certificates and surprises. During late morning
one of the receptionists called me and said that I had a visitor
in the lobby. The "visitor" was a vase with pink roses
and a card that simply read "Love, Mother." As I was
carrying them back to my office I thought to myself, "This
is just the best Work friends took me to lunch and even rain of Biblical proportions that made it impossible to walk back to the office couldn't dampen my birthday spirits. (And getting trapped in the CNN Center because there's a deluge sweeping across town isn't exactly the worst thing that could happen. It just meant paid time to browse in Waldenbooks. I finally got a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird.) My boss told me to go home early, and that's something you don't have to tell this girl twice. I met Allison at Nail South where I was treated to the best French pedicure of my life before we drove to Buckhead to meet the MOC at this dive of a Mexican restaurant that we love beyond reason. We drank Mexican beer and margaritas and ate food covered in queso before they presented me with not only the best gift but also a chocolate cake. "I wish I'd brought my camera!" I said. Chris agreed, especially because he was the one who wrote "Happy B-day" with blue icing. "I got to go behind the counter!" he kept exclaiming. At least he fit all of "happy" on there. When I got home there were several cards sitting in my mailbox, including one from my mom's eldest sister. Inside her card she'd slipped in pictures I'd drawn her more than 20 years ago. It made me cry seeing my little girl handwriting and realizing that there was a time when I believed in giant purple hearts in the sky. I stayed up till 11:06 p.m. so that
I could officially ring in 27 So the birthday was nice, and the first few days of my late-20s haven't been so bad either. I got more presents yesterday including the cutest book called The Etiquette of Dating (which I clearly need), and today, today I got a raise. That's right. A raise! It's small and once it breaks down to my bimonthly paycheck I'll barely even notice it, but still. A raise! It was accompanied by a great review of my probationary period and left me feeling fuzzy and confident all day. Twenty-six sort of put a kink in my
even/odd theory in that it wasn't a stellar year. It wasn't terrible
by any stretch but it was difficult. There were high points, like
vacation with Mo, Christmas in Ohio and you know, this job, but
working in a restaurant for almost a full year is certain to chip
away at your soul. Recently I was complaining to Mo that not only
did it kill my spirit there for a while but it also ruined my
Curse O' de Steakhouse Oh Steakhouse how I loathe you, But all of that is behind me now, maybe
forever, and I have a blank slate. The last half of my third decade
is mine to make of it what I will. I have big plans so there's
only one thing left to say: Watch out. Join the notify.
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