Great Birthday

Although I spent my birthday yesterday at work, all in all it was a great day.

Thanks to my on-line presence, throughout the day I received electronic birthday greetings from a cousin (Rachelle K.), four Mobergs I don't know (Chris, Chris, Marcus, and Lars Henrik), two former coworkers (Wendy S.-P., Leif O.), two current coworkers (Steph S., Heather M.), four dear friends (Erin A., Darin K., Mishka K., Ruth T.), and a slug of former students (Cody B., Julie B., Kristina B., Nick B., Sara B., Seth B., Cory C., John D., Aaron E., Tony F., Ashley H., Matt H., Rikki H., Adam K., Herb K., Megan K., Mitch M., Nick M., Robert M., Dan N., Heidi P., Jeremy R., Brianna S., Eric S., Savannah S., Eric V., Haley V., Laura V., Luke V., Paul V., Heidi Z.).

That's in addition to e-mailed greetings from my two sisters (plus an "adult" e-card from Sandy) and e-cards from my wife (here and here and here and here) and three daughters (from Suzanna, from Abigail, and from Hillary) that kept me preoccupied all day long.

And at work, I received birthday wishes from the library staff as I passed through on my way to my office (how did they know? they didn't confess). Everybody I work with said "Happy birthday!" individually, but I also got a card from one of our student paraprofessionals on which she had put a photo of Mark-Paul Gosselaar (who played Zach on TV's Saved by the Bell) with the caption, "Those were the days" (the student paraprofessionals think I remind them of Zach). One of the library workers and a professor of choral music joined my coworkers in singing me "Happy Birthday" (the day before, my coworkers had sung to me "Old People," a silly-lyric version of the song "Short People"). I also got a "Happy birthday!" from the chair of the nursing department.

My coworker Josh gave me a framed photo of himself for my birthday (ha!); below his face, he wrote, "I'll miss you most of all, Scarecrow"--a line from a funny moment in the movie Top Secret that I once said to him instead of "goodbye," and which was so random to him that he still thinks it's the most hilarious thing I've ever said (so far, that is). He and everybody else in our unit took me out for dinner at noon at Applebee's, where I ordered off the Weight Watchers menu but then unhesitatingly ate the complimentary chocolate sundae that our server brought me for dessert.

My family took me out for supper at Sanford's, where I had a burger with bleu cheese and Buffalo sauce on it, served with onion rings. Yes, it did nothing for my weight watching (other than to help me watch the weight go back on), but it was health food compared to the complimentary birthday dessert I was served afterwards: a plate-sized chocolate chip cookie topped with three large scoops of vanilla ice cream--one covered with strawberries and strawberry sauce, the next with chocolate chips and chocolate syrup, and the third with butterscotch chips and butterscotch syrup, and all of it decorated with canned faux whipped cream and sprinkles. Susan and the girls helped me, but I consumed the majority of the dessert myself. (I'm sore afraid of stepping on the scale today.)

When we got home, it was time for gift opening. Each of my daughters had made me fancy birthday cards, some requiring multiple unfoldings, some with poetry, and each requiring some oral interpretation/performance on their part. Susan made me a lovely card, too, with a sweet, sincere message inside. The gifts included a fire pit (and logs) for our back yard, a grilling mitt and grilling baskets (to hold fish or vegetables that might otherwise slip through the grate of the grill itself), two dress shirts with matching ties, and a CD of the soundtrack to the movie Hairspray (which we plan to see tomorrow night on Abigail's birthday). Dad and Beverly gave me a lovely card, too, as well as an assortment of seven ties that I can wear with my dress shirts for work (in the card, Beverly wrote that this is a "tied-up" birthday--ha!). I got greetings cards, too, from both my sisters and from my in-laws Jerrett & Cheryl and Arron.

We sang some songs at the piano for a while, and then changed into our pajamas. We spent the rest of the night checking out the extras on the Hairspray DVD/CD set, listening to the songs from the sountrack, and dancing around the office (yes, we truly did dance around the office, all five of us). It was so great to spend the day with coworkers and family who care about me and to hear from so many others who feel the same. Thank you, everybody! I had a great birthday.

P.S. My coworker/friend Steph told me that more people have birthdays in August than in any other month. Whaddya make of that, faithful readers?

The ridiculously bad-for-you, sinfully delicious birthday dessert from Sanford's

Me unwrapping the fire pit

My girlies and I on the veranda

Modeling my new grilling mitt

A bouquet of ties from Dad and Beverly

Family music time at the piano

Birthday smooch from Suzanna

Birthday smooch from Abigail

Birthday smooch from Hillary . . .

. . . and another . . .

. . . and another . . .

. . . and another . . .

. . . and another! What a smoochy child. What a lucky dad!