It’s Just Another Day

I may be the odd person out when it comes to birthdays, but I’ve never been one to be like “hey hey, woohoo, it’s my birthday, look at me, look at me.” In years past people have found out that my birthday had just passed and they are like, “why didn’t you say something.” Who knows why? All I know is that I’ve never made a big fuss about my birthday. That’s not to say that I don’t like getting a group a people together to go have a good time, but I’ve never been the type that says we should fly the circus in. That is why I was a little surprised that the theme of the entire weekend would turn out to be my birthday. Now some will argue that that is how it should be. Or that you have to go big when it’s your golden birthday. (Including Ms. R) Well for my benefit that’s what ended up happening. I’m still in the camp that it’s just another day, but I appreciate all the thoughtfulness and effort that people extended on my behalf. So here’s the run down…

Friday: Ms. R took me out to a very nice dinner after work. We went to Stella’s, which is a great seafood restaurant in the Uptown area of Minneapolis. The food, drinks, and deserts were top notch. We then headed to The Depot in downtown Minneapolis to go ice staking. I hadn’t been on a pair of stakes in about 15 years, but it’s kind of like riding a bike and you never really forget. We had a good time skating around and there was some great people watching to end our evening.


Saturday: Now this was the day that I had actually planned things out for how I wanted to celebrate my “just another day.” A group of 14 met in downtown St. Paul to go to a roller derby. That’s right they are bringing it back and it was a blast. From the opening whistle these girls came ready to skate hard. There was plenty of action in the form of great skating and the ladies ramming into each other with someone going into the crowd. There were a few crowd favorites based on their rough and tough style or their pure skating ability. Plus the couple of pure grab the other girl and take her down to the ground incidents really got the crowd going. I wasn’t sure if people we going to like it, since none of us had ever been before, but everyone seemed to enjoy the action.

The only hiccup was that Mr. JT had a concert next door which made traffic and parking a nightmare. Nothing against the music or the fans of said performer, but I couldn’t help but laugh at the streams of ladies who were dressed to the 9’s to go sit/stand in a dark concert hall. To me it was all too funny.

Anyway after the derby we headed to a local bar for drinks and food. A few more people who couldn’t make it to the derby trickled in. It was great just to chat it up with some friends while having a few adult beverages. Thankfully the shots were limited, I think it’s an age thing, and people just enjoyed the atmosphere.

Sunday: Cause there hadn’t been enough todo about my birthday and nursing a bit of a hangover there was still more to come. This of course was all Ms. R’s doing. We had a TNT fundraiser event Sunday night. One of our teammates but together a huge cookbook as a fundraiser and this was the kickoff part for it. Suzanne, the lady who’s fundraiser it was it one of our best TNT cheerleaders. She’ll talk to anyone about the program and her experiences. She Rocks! So of course Ms. R had to tell her that it was my birthday and she was ready for me. Half way through the party she called for our attention. She then proceeded to clothe me with a crown and gold cape and lead everyone is singing too me. I’m so not a spotlight person so she loved drawing everyone attention to me for the remainder of the night. It was a very nice gesture even if it’s something I would request doesn’t happen again.

Thanks Suzanne

final product

with Ms. R

So there are all the details of how a simple little thing such as a birthday took over an entire weekend. That said, it was a great weekend and I’m grateful for everything people did for me even if it’s not my style. Too bad the age change doesn’t do anything for me in terms of age group classifications.