My 45th Birthday

Turning 45 was easy. All I had to do was live 44 years and then wait a year. *Accepting* that I was 45, and thus officially and irrevocably past the midpoint of my best-case scenario lifespan, thatttt wasn't so easy. But whatachagonna do? You live, and you enjoy it, and you celebrate your birth all the harder. 

I started the day by walking the kids to school (a rarity, with my hip being wonky lately), then napped until my own classes started. When I returned, the house was clean and ready for a party!

Among the food were all my favorites: sushi, a dainty plate of wasabi, animal crackers, raspberry candy, oatmeal raisin cookies, unbuttered popcorn, Mountain Dew (reg and diet) and Bit O' Honey. 

Oh, and a half ice cream half cake . . .cake. 

The kitchen island was lined with presents and decorated with post-it note messages Lump had her classmates create for me. 

All of #TeamSlap was there, along with YaYa's boyfriend Justin, my cousin Mindy and her son, and my niece from Arizona. Not everyone is pictured here, in part because some folks worked the camera. 

YaYa gave me the traditional Polish-language birthday blessing. 

We sang happy birthday. We ate. And then we opened gifts!

I got loads of great presents. Ed Hardy cologne. Socks and underwear. A lunch container and a protein shake mixer bottle. A multi-tool Some snacks. (peeps, KitKat, Schneider pretzels).  Handkerchiefs. A beard trimmer. A record (LP) cleaner. And some great records (The Who, Zep, Nirvana, and Buddy Holly)

Later, my friend Tre stopped by and we hung out for a few hours. Before the day was through tho, I went and bought Lisa a small bouqet of flowers, as a thank you for throwing me a heck of a birthday.

Thanks to everyone who attended the party, and all the folks who wished me a happy day via text or Facebook! It meant a lot.