Let us celebrate the occasion with wine and sweet words.—Plautus

True dat.

Best. Birthday. Ever. Last week was my actual birthday and I have two amazing friends who made a corny road trip into one of the funnest things I’ve ever done. See, for the past 10 years, I had tried to plan a trip to Paris for my 40th bday. 10 years seemed like enough time to plan but apparently not. Instead, after many people had jokingly suggested I visit the local Paris (Missouri) for my birthday, the two friends and I did. We ate croissants and Brie at the water/Eiffel Tower and took many silly pictures. The weather warmed to an unseasonable 60 degrees and the sun shone bright on the January day. (FYI for the shined/shone nitpickers: http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/shined.html). Nothing compares to friends who will not only indulge this kind of goofiness but also go the complete distance in embracing the silliness by not rolling their eyes. I laughed so much, at the end of the night I needed a cheek massage. Seriously. I think I pulled a muscle in my face.

Last night I threw myself a birthday party, as I mentioned in a previous post. The evening was French-themed, and many of my fun friends indulged my request to wear berets and speak in a bad French accent for the night. Even my self-proclaimed redneck husband put a beret on top of his camo hat for part of the night. The effort was appreciated. Lovely Meg (who is a writer/actress/artist/world taker-over-er combo) painted me an Eiffel tower in about 15 minutes, a new friend T. put together a great mix cd of classic French music and 1940s music, another old friend brought some cool baskets as decoration. The cafe table and the old-timey stereo my kids bought me for my birthday finished the atmosphere for me. We tried karaoke; there were some technical difficulties but I did get to offer my rendition of “Crazy” in the aforementioned bad French accent. Friends brought wine to share (and some for me just to take hom) and lovely food, including some fresh raspberries to go with the brie and of course, I had squeezy cheese for Meg. She’s such a diva.

I only teared up once, and only briefly. I looked around the room and felt like my whole life was represented in that space. A friend from high school, sorority sisters and other college friends, a friend from work, old theater friends and fairly new theater friends and the man I love. And my husband. :) Stop, of course I’m kidding. To have all my favorite people in one room is the kind of thing I’ll put in my heart and draw on when life becomes dark and hard, and I need something to remember that I’m never alone. I think everyone feels like that sometimes but these magic moments sustain me through the rough times.

I’ve mentioned that my Mom has Alzheimers; honestly, for the past few years, my birthday has made me incredibly sad. For the first time since leaving home, I did not call her on my birthday. I’m ashamed to admit that I didn’t want to spoil the magic of my trip to Paris and all the joy it brought me. (Those that know me will understand the irony of this statement).

This 40th birthday though, touched my soul and made me grasp onto all the wonderfulness in my world. Obviously, it’s not all wonderful but everyone has the crap. Nothing hilarious this time. My Doogie Howser wrap up moment for this post is—I hope you all take advantage of the opportunity to celebrate your life. I hope you get the opportunity to see so many people you love in one room. Tonight, my night is very different. I’m sitting on the couch, watching Fairly OddParents with my kids. So many people I love in one room. This birthday was French themed and after all, Paris is the City of Love. I’m a lucky girl.

Think where mans glory most begins and ends, and say my glory was I had such friends.—Yeats
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