Crankin' one out on the big day

Y'all. It will be a big day.

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First, it's my birthday, a fact that is as inescapable as the rising of the sun and the whining of the dogs, who, in a cruel twist on a familiar theme, whined BEFORE the sun came up today because there was a thunderstorm at 4:30 a.m. in the morning and they were in the bathroom per usual and couldn't get out to the comfort of Mom and Dad and the big scary thunder was GOING TO GET THEM and so they made noise until I, so irritated as to be awakened, got up and let them out so that everyone else could sleep some more. So, yes, THAT kind of birthday greeting is not so much what I was wanting, but it was my reality.

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By 5 I was on the computer pounding out a bunch of e-mails and doing a weekly roundup for my supervisor beause I won't be at our usual team meeting this afternoon at 1, because the house closing, which was to have occurred at 9 this morning, was pushed back to noon so that the paperwork could make it to Raleigh from San Antonio, thereby rendering my presence at this group meeting and a subsequent team meeting something of questionable reality. But oh, the e-mails, they were fairly flying from my brain to fingers to computer to ether to recipient, with the force of 2 good cups of coffee and the early morning urge to succeed because if I wasn't going to DO something (not noisy), why be awake at all?

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Which meant that, once I got INTO work, the responses to those e-mails were ready and waiting for me, and by 8:30 I'd gotten further through my "to do" list that I usually get by noon, which is a very strange feeling indeed and one that, perhaps, bears repeating, but without the whining dogs and thunderstorms next time.

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But back to the birthday for a moment so that I can tell you that opening cards from one's children that contain proclamations of their love for you in their spidery print or newly-acquired cursive skills is a warming thing indeed. One of my boys signed his "from 1 of the 2 best kids around," which tickled me more than a little, because he's the one that, from the time he was a wee thing, would count us all to make sure that we were where we needed to be, which was right together in the same place, which I interpreted to mean that he's a real family guy and likes to be inclusive, so signing his card this way was a way of giving props to his brother, who, characterisltically, took no such efforts with HIS note of luv. Not that that's a BAD thing, because he's a different kid; it's more an illustration of how they both work this world.

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My husband asked me last night what I wanted for my birthday dinner, and I (wisely, I thought) said "Applebees." Simple, inexpensive, good menu, and, perhaps most festively, those big ol' freezing cold tankards of beer just waiting to be consumed. Ah yes, the Applebee's, how I love them there slippery frosty mugs that soak many a napkin with their icy-ness while keeping the golden liquid inside them a lovely frigid temperature. Mmmm-mmmm-GOOD. Plus, no dishes to wash! Woot!

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If I can just get through the working and the closing and the running around that leads up to the Applebee's, all will be well on this, the anniversary of the day on which I made my way (ass first!) from the safety of my Mother into this vast and shining world.

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It's been a great ride so far, I must say.

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A brief note on how my life seems to work - As a little gift from Mother Nature to me, there was a rainbow this morning. The younger child bounded into the bathroom as I was taking a shower, threw open the blinds and eagerly announced its presence. I was, at this point, wet and naked and shampoo-y and therefore not at a point at which I could lean out of the shower to see the rainbow because the seeing required a certain amount of crouching and upward-looking and maybe even shower-exiting, so I missed it. But I heard it was beautiful....and that's enough for me.