Reflections on a 25th Birthday

So, yesterday was my birthday. It was a good birthday. Much better than last year when my grandma died and I went to her viewing on my birthday.

I feel like the key thing about birthdays is to feel loved and important to people. I definitely felt that way which means my birthday was a success. I did some work but not too much. I always feel like birthdays are usually just a few fun moments that make you feel like it is your birthday. The rest of the day seems normal but you keep thinking it should be exciting all day. Being in YWAM on your birthday means that you get people talking about your birthday all day. It's great! I got "Happy Birthday" sung to me no fewer than five times. I got cupcakes in the shape of the number 25.

In the afternoon Amy and I went to Wal-Mart and TCBY. Then we went up to her mentor's house. Her mentor is a lady named Moana who is married to a guy, Eric, with an awesome mullet and a partial handlebar mustache. He definitely disproves the stereotypes about mullets. He is super nice and a millionaire. They own four houses. One in Maui, one in Canadian ski country, one on the Hawaiian island, Molokai, and one in Paris. Their house in Maui is up near the top of the volocano and has an incredible view. Eric is an artist so they designed the house themselves. It looks like one of those places you would see on a cool house tv show. They have this awesome fishtank built into the wall between the study and living room. So cool. Amy and I just hung out and relaxed in non-YWAM land. It was nice.

Then she treated me to a steak dinner at Outback. It was good. I got a free ice cream sundae because it was my birthday. It was funny at dinner because my friend, Jared called. Now, I got lots of birthday phone calls from great friends all day. I was a bit surprised that Jared knew when my birthday was because we aren't really birthday call friends. It soon became clear that he just happened to call on this special day and did not know it was my birthday. It seemed to awkward to tell him so I decided not to. I felt really blessed yesterday because almost all my favorite people in the world called me or emailed me including my brother who had to call me from a pay phone in "Armyland," Georgia. I was especially excited to hear from my old roommate, Lucy who I had not talked to in a long time. I just love that girl!

After Amy and I went to Outback, we went home and watched some Law and Order. Mmm.... Box sets! Then some of my friends came over bearing gifts. I got stickers, a gift certificate to Borders and a funny shirt. I always joke that our other girls' staff house is where all the homebody girls live. I say all they do is knit and make handicrafts. Our house is more social and several of the girls have boyfriends so there are a lot of rules at our house. I like to say that "Anything Goes" at Mayu's. Two of my Mayu's friends found a shirt at American Eagle that says "Anthing Goes." Pretty funny. Today I wore it and wrote "at Mayus" underneath it.

Marti Harnly wins the prize for sending a birthday package that actually arrived on my birthday. I have heard rumors of upcoming packages and I am waiting on pins and needles for their arrivals. Better late packages, than no packages. That's what I always say.