On Friday, the day before my birthday, I arrived at work to find that the Boys Club had decorated my desk with birthday decorations! I was shocked, of course, that they remembered my Big Day. I mean, it’s not like I had an official countdown during the month of June or like I scheduled my birthday on each of their Outlook calendars so they would all get a reminder 24 hours ahead of time or anything. What a surprise!
I wore a pink “Birthday Princess” crown for the majority of the day. Not sure if anyone noticed, but a lot of people did wish me a happy birthday!
On Saturday, I started off my birthday morning by waking up bright and early and going to the bank to take care of some official business. That wasn’t exactly how I would have liked to start the day, but it needed to be done. Once that was taken care of, though, the real fun began!
I came home to find my big birthday present: a record player! I’d been wanting one for a while and was so excited to finally get it. Along with that, I got the new Bon Iver on vinyl, too. So, after listening to Bon Iver and drinking coffee for a little while, I put on my special frilly birthday dress, headed to Indy CD and Vinyl and picked up the latest Tegan and Sara album (one of my favorite bands) to add to my collection.
I spent the afternoon running around town lunching, shopping at Anthropologie, and enjoying the nice weather. After returning home and taking a brief nap, I woke up, fixed myself up a little, and headed out to dinner at Trader’s Point Creamery with some friends. The restaurant is in a barn on a farm, so the food is all local and fresh – not to mention the setting was beautiful! Fabulous.
And then came the night’s big event: My friends decided to take me go-carting.
I, being such a good sport, agreed to go along, even though I’m terrible at basically everything. We had to watch an instructional safety video, then got dressed from head-to-toe in racing gear. (I don’t even want to think about the last time that suit or helmet had been washed!) (Also, please note that it can be difficult to stuff a special frilly birthday dress inside a racing onesie, but rest assured, it can be done!)
Before I knew it, I was speeding around the race track. And by speeding, I mean driving so slowly that I almost came to a complete stop anytime I had to round a corner. It’s not my fault! There were these scary, big kids who were racing at the same time as we were, and I was fearful that one of them would completely wipe me out if I wasn’t careful. It was basically the longest 8 minutes of my life. I can’t describe the joy that came over me when the checkered flag finally started waving.
I came in last place.
Luckily, I didn’t let it get me down. After all, it was my BIRTHDAY! The best day of the year!
Having survived that confidence-builder, we grabbed a drink in Broad Ripple, then I returned home and opened the rest of my birthday gifts. I stayed up until just after midnight, taking full advantage of the day, and then finally fell asleep, exhausted from the festivities.
It was one of the best birthdays I’ve had in a long time. Who doesn’t love a day full of events?! Plus, I really, really love my record player.
So. When is it appropriate to start the countdown to next year’s birthday?
Jillian Wyatt 