My First Texas Birthday

I cannot stress enough how strange it is to type out the title of this post. First off, I never envisioned myself living in Texas. Secondly, I never thought I would have a birthday where I didn’t have friends to celebrate with. Lastly, I surely didn’t think that we would still be in a world pandemic!

I mean, really, what a time to be alive. If you hate it, or are besides yourself, or just trying to manage; we certainly are living through a huge historic moment.

This year I turned 45. For some reason the years that end in zeros and fives seem to hold more weight. I’m not exactly sure why, but somehow in the middle of all the chaos of 2020 and 2021 I managed to have a great birthday.

The start of it was all thanks to Gil. He set me up with a massage at a day spa where I could relax and be pampered. I wore a mask and relaxed for more consecutive hours, by myself, than I probably ever have before.

It was something I never thought of doing before. But these are Covid times and we are all doing what we can to make it through. The least I could do was dive into a beautiful day of solo spa-ness, right?

I utilized the infinity pool, the healthy salad and juice options at the pool, the mineral pool, the mineral steam room and the outside quiet area. It was quite decadent and I couldn’t have been more thankful that Gil was so thoughtful and generous in the day he planned for me.

After that I got home to birthday decorations, a super sweet cake, homemade cards and a new burger option so I could try out one of the local grass fed burger places. Whataburger is good, but I was really hoping the kids would relent just this one Friday.

Luckily, the birthday girl got her way and we headed to Mr. Juicy. The surprised came when we got a text from the one family we know at the kid’s school saying they were just driving next to us! Say what??? We told them where we were headed and they couldn’t wait to hear our thoughts. Our Friday night Whataburger and family movie nights have become a popular topic for anyone the kids know and they knew we were angling for a new burger on this special occasion.

So after we ate, I took Domingo for a walk — figuring a walk was what I need because I really wanted cake, but my tummy was not ready after the huge burger and fried I took down! D and I headed out and we let our friends know that Mr. Juicy is super yum!

This is when I got the biggest shock — our new family friends then invited us over for beers because it was my birthday and it was a beautiful Texas night (warm and breezy in late January). I was so excited I almost fell over! Basically, I ran home to see what Gil thought and hoped he was down for it. When he said yes it was another super exciting moment, because it was already 8pm and normally the kids are in bed — BUT not on this night.

Instead we hoped in the car with the cake and headed out. We had the best time! The kids played and ran around, while Gil got to check out the local Bodega with superb beer options and we all got to chat until after midnight.

Most of us enjoyed cake.

We all had an amazing time!

And I didn’t take any photos. (Booo!)

But, I was so happy.

My friend, Shaira, referred to it as a birthday miracle and I think she coined it perfectly.

Good things are gonna happen this year. I can just feel it!