I had the nicest birthday I've had in a long time. In 1994, Nisou gave RDC and me and SEM dinner at her house and a cake; in 1995, RPR came running into the house with a handful of roadside flowers asking for a marker, because I had said I wanted a birthday cake with flowers and my name on it and the marker was to write on the clear plastic grocery-store container. In 1997, Haitch and RDC and I went in quest of sushi but it was Sunday so Wallyworld was closed and we were confined to the Cheesecake Factory (Denver has improved significantly since then).
On the birthday, my department took me to lunch, and in the evening, at Other bookclub, a cake that someone had bought for another woman's retirement turned into half a birthday cake too. Plus I got to brush a long-haired cat named Poppy enough to make another cat. Plus KDF's aunt attended, her first non-medical outing since she got sick.
Then today, we had a party. I thought the invitation shouldn't mention any significance to the date at all, but word got out, and I received, in addition to an evening with my neighborhood friends, flowers and a box of Revolution Earl Grey with Lavender tea and a book by V.S. Naipaul. And a cake with my name and rosettes on it. Plus, Maven's visiting brother drew a pen-and-ink portrait of Blake based on this photograph.
In addition to all this, there was the unintended birthday present...
