Across Country: Birth times

So I worked on my birthday for the first time ever. Typically, if there is a birthday in my family, we always do something at least slightly memorable. We go to the zoo, or the beach, or take a little trip. It's always something that either myself or my sister Angie spend way too much time planning. It never goes just right, but it's the thought that counts. A couple of weeks ago, Tim had asked if I wanted to go on a drive to Mount Hood. I told him that sounded so nice and started to get excited. He took off of work and planned the trip. Then I got this job that required that I start immediately and work on all the days that Tim had off that week. Real bummer. Oh well, I had a job and that's what was important. Man being a grown up sucks. I worked all day and expected to come home to the house I left a mess and make dinner. But alas, Tim is a sweet man.

He picked me up from work at about 6:30pm and took me out to dinner. Vita Cafe never fails to please me. We even splurged and got drinks and appetizers. Then he said he had one more surprise before we went home. We drove for a half hour outside of the city. The sun was setting and the mountains began to grow. We flanked the river for the whole drive and as we approached our destination I could see where Tim was taking me, up on the mountain. A waterfall poured over the side of the craggy rock. It was beautiful. Tim knows what I like and it's things like mountains, waterfalls, and folklore. This waterfall was man made by the native people of Oregon for their princess. They wanted her to have a private place to bath so they carved out a bath at the top of the mountain thus creating this 620 foot waterfall. It claimed to be the 2nd biggest constantly flowing waterfall in the United States. When we got home, Tim looked it up and found that to be an outright lie, so who knows if any of the story is true. The lesson learned here is to never trust state parks, as they will lie about things that are very easily fact checked.

When we got home Tim had cleaned the entire house better than I could have, bought champagne and little eclairs, and made chocolate covered strawberries. Each of the babies had gotten me a present. Persie got me a much needed full length mirror. Iggy replaced the aloe plant he had killed months ago. And Julian got me a giant dahlia plant with huge flowers as big as my head. It's so nice to have green things growing in my house again. I received some very sweet birthday cards and well wishes, and a package from a man named Gene Pepe from o. Inside this package, contrary to my guess of a bomb, was Ken and Barbie Mulder and Scully dolls from the X Files. I called Angie to confirm, and yes, they were from her.

In the few hours of happy birthday time that I had, I had a lovely day. Definitely one to remember. I do miss everyone back in Virginia, but it's nice to know that people were thinking of me even when I wasn't there to remind them. I'm twenty three now, and have just began to realize how young that actually is. Although it feels like I've accomplished so much, I know that I have years to get to where I'm going, where ever that may be.