But there are 364 UN-birthdays!
Yesterday was my birthday, as Dan mentioned, and everyone in my life showed me in their own special way that they appreciate my existence on this planet.
Judy, because she is pragmatic, showed me that she loves me pragmatically by purchasing every item on my with list, in its exact specifications. Blue and yellow fabric, embroidery thread, soluble stabilizer, and a sleeve board. I clearly have some crafting to do! Just after I use the extra money to buy an iron...
My brother, because he can barely manage to show up for stuff, showed me he loves me by showing up to my birthday dinner. And he got me flowers from the subway station! They are very beautiful, and are benefiting from the greater air circulation atop my kitchen table.
My mom, because she is a martyr, showed me that she loves me martyrlyly by baking me a cake but having it fail two times so that she had to make three cakes. Also, when i called her from sitting in traffic she said, "Oh, that's okay... WE'RE already at the restaurant." And then told us when we got there, "We didn't order yet. We WAITED to order." Also, she reminded everyone that she gave birth to me, by SURGERY, forever breaking her for natural childbirth.
And lastly Dan, because he is eternally optimistic, showed me he both loves me and believes in my yet untested musical ability by purchasing me a fiddle! I can't tell you what it feels to own a real live musical instrument, an instrument that is mine to create noise with. It feels like I can be optimistic too, like perhaps for the rest of my life I won't be that lame wife with the songbook who sits on the outside of the circle humming while all my friends pick up instruments and play bluegrass. I already figured out how to play a G-major scale AND Twinkle-twinkle. When I was eight it took me like a month to learn how to play that song! My adult learning curve is awesome!!!
Also Dan made me a cream-cheese pie, which he called a Gartner pie because my mother wrote the recipe on Gartner stationary. I think this pie will perhaps be called a Gartner pie forever, and when we bring it to parties people will look at the berries and say, "Gardener pie?" And in 20 years we'll forget the reason, and we'll say, "Yeah, i think it's a gardener pie, except it's pronounced Gartner. That's always just what my mother said."