Saturday we went to a Carnegie Mellon alumni event (we are both alums) in Fort Worth to watch a weather balloon launch. It was interesting and especially so because they launch the balloon at 12a.m. GMT so it was like a countdown to my birthday beginning. We met a family there that had moved from NY sixteen years prior. The mother made a comment that she had always wanted to return but ended up having children and got "stuck" here. My. Worst. Nightmare. I either want to love it and stay or decide to return back to the east coast and leave. Not live with regret for the rest of my life... I saw the fear in Mark's eyes that he knew what I was thinking when she said that. And we both agreed that would never be us.
Sunday, Mark made us amazing sweet potato pancakes for breakfast and then I checked out a new church. I had driven past a mid-sized church in a really nice neighborhood earlier in the week and I was looking forward to checking it out. Christ Lutheran Church turned out to be as welcoming as it looked from the outside. A newly expanded facility and members who were so friendly that I was there for quite awhile as they walked me around introducing me to each other after the early service I attended.
While I was mingling at hospitality hour, my phone kept vibrating. I thought nothing of it, it was probably just a friendly happy birthday text or voicemail. But it kept vibrating. Finally, I checked it and discovered that Mark had texted, called, etc. 12 times! One of his texts revealed that he had gotten a flat tire on his bike ride and needed me to pick him up. It was time for me to leave.
Even with the unexpected flat tire, we made it to our next location, Malarkey's Tavern, just in time for kickoff. Malarkey's is a Steelers bar in Dallas and I was looking forward to checking out the first game of the season there. I had been a member of the Steelers In Hoboken Club so I was hoping to find a new community to watch the games with in Texas. It was a great spot. They had many Steelers decorations, even Pittsburgh items on the menu! Unfortunately, the game itself was not as enjoyable. The Steelers got slaughtered, it was pretty painful. One of my highlights of the day came at halftime though when a group of my friends surprised me with a "Happy Birthday" conference call. :-) So sweet!!
After the game, we headed home and Mark made a wonderful meal for us to eat while we had dinner with one of my closest friends and her boyfriend via Skype.
We ended our evening on a rather somber note, watching some of the coverage of the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Usually I avoid these stories on my birthday, recognizing it in my own way, but this year I was not successful.
It was quite a sweet birthday, literally. Besides the sweet sentiments of the wonderful cards, messages, gifts, (Mark even got us tickets to the Steeler's game in Houston in a few weeks,) and phone calls that made my day, I also got a great deal of desserts. Mark's boss's wife made me an amazing white chocolate souffle key lime pie for my birthday cake, some friends sent me a box filled with brownies, another friend sent me a box of candy and of course the chocolates I had received on Friday at work.
I had been so worried that this year would be hard without my friends and family but I was so touched that in their own way, all of those people I missed so much went out of their way to be a part of my day anyway. It's the amazing people in my life that made my birthday special, no matter how far away they might have been and I am unbelievably grateful for that.
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