It's My [Birthday] and I'll Cry if I Want to!

Well, because the song is well-known (at least it is to me), I assume most of you who read my blog know the tune... All the "boomers" should, and all their kids should... So that takes care of the vast majority (if not all) of my blog-viewers. But, since it's always exciting to hunt stuff down on youtube, and I was successful... To hear the song from which I adapted THOSE lyrics, click here :).

I'm 27 people. Okay, so no, not ancient or anything. I just cannot fathom how I possibly came to be 27. How in this world did I end up this close to 30? I emailed my friend Donna yesterday and mentioned that I can't believe I'm turning 27 today, that it's "kinda sad." She wrote me back and said, "I wish I was turning 27 tomorrow!" Haha... I'm really not depressed about turning 27 (at least not too much :)). I just really cannot explain how the last 10 years passed so quickly. Here's the danger: when I was 17, I could not remember much (if anything) about being 7 - the previous decade. That is no longer true about the past 10 years. I can REMEMBER, quite vividly, I might add, a lot of things about being 17. That's when it's scary.... when you can remember 10 years ago. Which gives me a whole new ponderous thought about why "older" people are always depicted saying, "When I was your age..." They are probably blown away by the fact that they are remembering 30, 40, and even 50 years ago and they can STILL remember the DETAILS... (Sadly, I have uttered the words "when I was their age..." and I am referring to 18 year olds... This would be a bad reason to be on a college campus: it makes you reflect on when you were 'that' age). Anyway (sorry, tangent), I think Julie made the comment when she was around 25 or so that "Okay, I'm ready to stop now." So, I'm going to throw my vote into the ring with hers and say, "Okay, I'm ready to stop now." I'm thinking (since Julie is about to be 29) that it doesn't really matter how many votes we throw into that ring... Something tells me no one is counting them anyway... I will have it be noted, however, that I just want to STOP the ride. I don't actually want to GET OFF of the ride :). We've all heard of the roller-coaster that just stops and hangs out there for a while... That's what I'm talking about :) (although I wonder if there is something to the fact that all the passengers stuck on the 'track' tend to get highly annoyed...) Who knew turning 27 could be such a thought-inducing moment :)?

Okay, here's another thing to make you chuckle about me getting "old." This came up in an email conversation I had with my friend Stacy yesterday. Stacy is 22 (I think), but she looks very young. So I was commenting that she probably gets a lot of those "oh, you're so young and pregnant" looks. (She's about to have a baby). She replied that she did, and that she tries to flash her wedding rings whenever she gets those looks. But, she said, "then I get the look that says 'you're so young AND pregnant AND married.' But everyone tells me it will pay off one day." I couldn't help but laugh when I read that, but I assured her that looking young will pay off one day. And so I had to share this story with her (and now with all of you). About a year and a half ago, I was at the Dothan municipal building when Christina and Nick were getting married. Desiree was about 1 and she was walking all over the place. So I was following her around, trying to keep an eye on her. So one of the ladies that works there said, "Oh, are you the grandma?" Okay, talk about an ego-bust. I was crushed. I'm ONLY 4 years older than Christina. Can I possibly look like a grandma? And that was a year and half ago, and my head has since multiplied exponentially the number of gray hairs upon it, so how "grandmotherly" do I look now??? So, now you know.... I have been mistaken for a grandma. Perhaps this is something I need to include in my "Nilla trivia." Anyway, Stacy wrote me back and assured me that I was not in any way looking "grandmotherly." But it is a story to be remembered and one I thought I would share with you to give you a chuckle. And don't tell me you didn't chuckle... I know better ;).

Although it's still early, so nothing exciting has happened, here is a brief rundown of things I thought I would tell you today:

1. I love my online class, because I get a lot done. Last night, during class, I worked a little on my next term paper, chatted with April (and laughed), and looked up the tourist sights in Philly, D.C., and New York City (I'm preparing for my exciting trip in December...)
2. After school, I got home, got a shower, made hot chocolate and drank it while reliving my childhood by watching "Denver the Last Dinosaur" (I bought a VHS tape with two episodes on it from Movie Gallery years back) -- I never knew the cartoon was so incredibly CORNY.
3. Heath called me at 11:57 p.m. to ask me an English question for his presentation... I'm sure I gave him some lucid and genius response, being that I had been asleep and I had to wake up enough to get the headpiece into my ear (remember, my phone is on its last leg, so I have to do this), and then he wanted me to THINK!!! Okay, I'm thinking this was a ploy, because he waited until 12:01 to tell me it was officially my birthday and Happy Birthday -- I must be getting "old" because it hadn't even occurred to me that he might be calling about my birthday... in fact, I'd forgotten all about it.
4. I decided to celebrate my birthday by sleeping in (oops) and woke up at 6:40 (I should leave by 6:45 for work). But I had warm hot chocolate leftover from last night on the way to work.
5. I'm such an important and integral part of the workings of this department at work that the whole floor is celebrating my birthday!!! (Okay, this is not true... we are having a 'student appreciation' party... but I can claim it :)).

And lastly, I want to honor the people who brought me into this world on this day back in 1980. (11:40 p.m., to be exact... "I just didn't want to be a witch" according to the delivery nurse). I love my parents SOOOO much. And I have included a poem I wrote in Creative Writing about my mom. It was an assignment I had, and probably the first poem I ever wrote that did not rhyme, but it turned out to be one of my favorite things I've ever written. I love you Mom and Dad. You are such wonderful parents. And these are my parents: (One is of me and my dad, the other is my mom with her four children).

A Different View

A lifetime ago she annoyed me:
A sing-song voice singing,
“It’s time to get up in the morning!”
A drill sergeant:
“Hila, your dish-night.”
A nag:
“Go clean your room; no MTV.”
A lifetime since she’s become my advisor,
My pillow for crying, my cooking instructor.
A lifetime ago, I was wrong.