Pre-Birthday Celebration

I am a little sad today, as my birthday month draws to an end. There are a few things that happen in the fall, that I feel are in homage to my birthday. First-ly, the leaves begin to change colors, in an effort to make me feel better about the impending doom of winter. Second, Ringling Brothers starts advertising, and lastly, but most importantly, Endless Shrimp at Red Lobster comes back. I am a simple girl, with simple needs, who was blessed with a complex enough, husband, that knows how to juggle and fulfill all my needs. Pretty much circus folk and shrimp, and I am a happy camper.

We celebrated Friday with the kids, and really loved the circus. The circus birthday tradition goes way back, when my parents would take us to Salt Lake, to see the show and stay overnight in a hotel. Remind me if I am wrong Mom, but it seems like we would get to the hotel, and then you guys would give us five bucks and tell us to explore the hotel for the next few hours. That is so weird that you would just want to watch t.v. or whatever, hmm.

Anyway, one year that sticks out in my mind, was the time my bro, Jordan and I got bored turning all the Privacy Please cards over to the Housekeeping side,(including our own room). After we lost interest in pushing all the buttons in the elevator, we made our way down to the weight room and found a great new game that consisted of pulling the lat bar down as far as we could get it, and then launching it, in sling shot fashion toward the sky. Unfortunately, one time, it went all the way to the ceiling and broke several lights, which then scattered broken glass around us, and lacerated Jordan's knee, or his leg somewhere. I can't really remember much, other that a lot of blood, glass, hotel management, and my angry parents. They really should have given us more than five bucks.

Endless shrimp, to me, truly feels like a personal challenge. Over the years, Dave and I, both being sickeningly competitive, have done our fair share of damage at All-You-Can-Eat Shrimp night. This year was a little different though, since we brought the Hoodlums along, and I have been stricken down with a severe sore throat for the last week. Although we barely ate enough shrimp to be worth the trip, we had a great time reminiscing about all our past shrimp memories, like, " 'member 2004?" "Oh, yeah. That was a great year for shrimp, and the waitress was phenomenal."

After wrenching the Hoodlums away from Red Lobster, we hit the Circus. The fun of the Circus, hit us long before we actually found our seats. Even as we parked the car, and started towards the arena, we found ourselves in people-watching heaven. The circus was great, and absolutely made better, by watching it with the kids. I sat by Dylan, who was glued to the action the whole time. He oohed and aahhed and was totally stumped when they made the elephant disappear. I got to sit really close to him, since the woman next to me, was taking up half my seat as well. There really is nothing like being reminded why you shouldn't overindulge in Shrimpfest, by your armrest being taken hostage by another woman's belly roll. It ended up being an awesome night with the fam.

I worked the rest of the weekend, and on Sunday was surprised by my friends, with a birthday cake and lots of love. They chose to present the cake to me immediately after I had just finished mopping up a mess of Sunday Brunch vomit from my pants, so I wasn't able to dive right in, but I enjoyed it all the same, once I could no longer smell the caprese salad, olives, and bile. You know, a true nurse could eat cake while covered in vomit. That is how I know I am really a cop, trapped in a health care profession.

I thought it might be a lame day in the ER, when I came on shift Sunday, to a mostly drunk patient population, but I was wrong. The night nurse gave me a heads up on the spitting and belligerence of a patient I am going to call "Lou", and the also massive paper work, because he was requiring four-point restraints. Lou and I got along fabulously though and when I went in to introduce myself he didn't spit at me, he just said, "you little b*$tch." With only one day before I turn 31, it was like music to my ears. "Little" has never been a word thrown loosely at me and I'll take it.