Birthday Wishes

Today’s my birthday. Family and I are actually celebrating it tomorrow.

First, I’m walking through an exhibition of Beyond Van Gogh, which I have been anticipating ever since it first came to my state over a year ago (but a bit further away than any of us wanted to drive).

Next, we’re going out to eat. I chose a restaurant that has rainbow cake in honor of June being Pride Month. Wooo!!! I have seen gorgeous slices of rainbow cake at the grocery store year-round but never bought one because it seemed excessive. The slices were so big! BUT a birthday is a special occasion.

My original thought was to special order a sunflower cake in honor of Vincent Van Gogh, and kind of theme the whole day that way. I think, though, that an artist would appreciate a cake of many colors, whatever its reason for existence. At least, so I imagine.

I’ve been sifting through my many, MANY unread emails looking at all the special offers awaiting me for my birth month. There are a LOT of them. HUZZAH!

Today, I cruised through Starbucks drive thru and got a free Cinnamon Caramel Nitro Cold Brew as a Birthday Reward. The baristas even wrote “Happy Birthday” on the lid, with a little heart, and they turned the loopy tail of the “y” into the smile of a smiley face. I almost cried in my car when I saw it.

I was also reminded by none other than Ryan Reynolds (via Tweet) that I share a birthday with Chris Evans (how I manage to forget this EVERY year, I do not know). So, I wished Captain America, himself, a happy birthday on Twitter. Thus far, it’s garnered one like. Alas. Famous, I am not lol.

The best part by far, though, of that Tweet, was my dad’s outrage that Chris Evans has yet to wish me a happy birthday back! LOL. I tried explaining how famous he is and how many birthday wishes he probably gets every year. “Well! He could pay someone to respond.” Aw, Dad. No one’s good enough for me, as far as you’re concerned. Not even Chris Evans. HA!

According to McDonald’s, my birthday is also purdy darn close to Grimace’s, too. I think the Grimace birthday meal hit the day before, but I got an email from McDonald’s today wishing a happy birthday to both me and Grimace. Yes, I know it’s incredibly unhealthy, but I will at the very least have to try the purple shake. Because it’s purple. And I have a free bakery item coming from them.

I’m thinking a lot about friendship tonight, and water, emotion, everything fluid and cyclical. I had been working on gathering poems to give to my friends– not pieces of mine, but things written by other authors, that remind me of them.

Tonight, I asked a friend from my youth, my high school best friend, if she would like some poetry via snail mail. It occurred to me tonight to peek into noor unnahar’s yesterday i was the moon for more water themes, echoing back to a conversation my friend and I had once had on the nature of water.

Not only did I find that. I also discovered a fun poem about finding and creating beauty through struggle, using the metaphor of wildflowers. This reminded me of the coworker to whom I loaned my umbrella today so he could walk to the gas station in the rain to get some lunch.

“It has flowers on it,” I warned him. I don’t know why I still expect staunch, stereotypical masculinity out of the men in my life. I brace for it.

“I love flowers,” he answered.

He then proceeded to return not only with my umbrella, but also with “birthday donuts,” since I was working on my birthday. They were technically for everyone, but my birthday was the occasion. And he offered me a spare donut for the road on my way out.

Not only that. Today, he thanked me and said how great it is knowing that I always have his back.

“I try,” I replied.

“You don’t just try. You do.”

I’m thinking I may give some poems to my coworkers, too. I think everyone likes little thoughtful somethings here and there. The wildflowers poem I read tonight definitely caught my attention and resonated as something he might appreciate.

Another coworker took a moment to wish me a happy birthday from another state, amidst a rather stressful family situation. I’ll have to ponder what a poem for her might feel like.

I also amassed numerous birthday wishes online. So far, I’ve responded individually to every one. Yet again, the guy who dated my high school girlfriend at the same time as me wished me a happy birthday lol… ah, high school.

It’ll be a quiet evening here, cool, after a long and rainy day. My daughter promised to call tonight, however, so I have that to anticipate. She’ll be working for another few hours yet.

I just wanted to share some birthday gratitude with y’all, and offer the following birthday wish:

Whether you feel like a flower in the rain, a thunderstorm, a drop of water in the ocean, an unshed tear, an unanswered prayer held close by the sky, or none or all of the above, I wish you the certainty of how vital an element of this world you truly are. Humble though your role may seem, you matter.

That is my wish for you, and for myself.

May we all remember that, and honor that, each and every day.