XXX

It is far too late at night for me to be blogging, but it has also been far too long since I have posted; I needed to post this soon, before two months passed.

I turned 30 the day after Christmas.

The “turning 30” thing was not a big deal for me; it did not worry me or really feel that different. The day started (after sleeping in) with receiving a lot of birthday wishes on Twitter and Facebook. It made me smile and be thankful for all the people I am blessed with in my life. Backing up, the day technically started when Isha texted me birthday wishes at midnight. I responded with, “What - no phone call, no singing?”. She called and sang a sleepy (but good) rendition of “Happy Birthday”. I spent the afternoon with Jon and Isha, went to Best Buy to spend some birthday money, then went to the airport to pick up Suzi. We surprised her, since she was only expecting me to pick her up.

For dinner I got together with some friends at The Macaroni Grill. Alex, Jeremiah, Chris, Ian, Jon, Shawn, Niki, Sheryl, and Suzi were there (Isha was bummed to miss it, but understandably had to leave for some emergency best friend duty, rejoining us later). The food was great, as usual (well, the two times I have been), and a guy sang “Happy Birthday” in Italian. Afterwards we went to see Yes Man, which was really entertaining; I recommend it. Allison, Andy, and Chelsey joined us for the movie as well. Determined to keep the party going, we came back to my place and played games until about 3am (Doug and Dan joined us for the later part of the night).

Suzi gave me a Willow Tree figurine, “Heart of Gold”, telling me that I have the biggest heart – Aww :). Sheryl gave me a green-striped track jacket and a book by Pepe the King Prawn, It's Hard Out Here For a Shrimp: Life, Love & Living Large. Shawn gave me some Wii points. Allison gave me a card with a disco guy on it – sans confetti falling out of it (one of her trademarks), but the funniness inside made up for it. Niki gave me one of her stuffed animals and one of her signature homemade cards. Front: “Greger a very happy birthday to you.” Inside: “Yeah, sorry about the pizza stains. Isha got less than you did. Enjoy your situation.” The card is made of lined paper, pizza stains, and awesomeness.

The next night, my friends threw a surprise party for me. I somewhat suspected something might be up, but downplayed it in my mind. Sheryl had asked me earlier in the week if she could take me out to dinner at Red Robin. I agreed and she offered me a ride. That seemed odd, since the Red Robin is between us and it would be out of her way to come pick me up instead of meeting me there. We made a stop at Cafe Agape so she could get something from Suzi and, surprise, a lot of my friends were there! We played Rock Band, ate pizza, watched Fred Claus – and yes, I even blew out the torch that was my cake (all 30 candles) with one blow. :)

I was humbled by the surprise party, yet another reminder of how loved and blessed I am. I was content and had a blast with the festivities I had planned the night before, but my friends went above and beyond that and threw a surprise party, too. Thanks, everyone. 30 was a pretty great birthday and I'm looking forward to the next year.