May 01, 2008
Twenty-Nine Candles
Today is my birthday, and look what I got in the mail:
It was addressed to me, even, not to "Current Resident" or "The Special Person in Your Life with Mobility Issues," but me (albeit with my last name spelled wrong thanks to an error our homeowners' insurance company made last July, back when they sold my identity to every junk mailer in the nation AND NOW I KNOW WHO TO BLAME.)
Anyway, I know that when a woman says she's twenty-nine, that's usually code for "twenty-nine plus," but I really am twenty-nine, really!, and well, I'm insulted that I'm already getting geriatric direct mail, okay? Simon, as always, reminds me that if I hadn't turned twenty-nine today, that would mean I had died when I was twenty-eight, and he's right, but still, I can't help think that even as I live and breathe, it's all just another pace down the long road toward the inevitable: a Jazzy Rascal Scooter.
In a letter my grandma sent with my birthday card, she said it has been so hot in Salt Lake City lately that if she had a bikini, she'd strap it on and go lay on her back porch. It snowed there today, just like it did on the day I turned nine, when the temperature hit a record low of 30 degrees, but the point here is not that weather is fickle but that life is short and we should all enjoy our bikini days/years before it's too late. "Stay young as long as you can," she wrote, "because as soon as you turn eighty-one, you start to fall apart."
A person might take that as an invitation to celebrate her birthday by skydiving out of a hot air balloon into a gorge or something, but I think I'm just going to focus on relaxing rather than endangering myself in pursuit of a good cocktail story. Besides, I can't be sure but I think skydiving might be a pregnancy "don't."
Anyway, here is me at twenty-nine. Not much different from last year save that I've resorted to a haircut that covers my crow's feet. I'm not just getting older but smarter.
Happy birthday! Yay for you and all things "b"--bangs, bikinis, blogs, beats, bears, battlestar galactica!
Posted by: kirida at May 1, 2008 12:45 PMI think you're a helluva lot prettier this year than last. I thought that last year too...
Happy birthday, my sweet dear love!
-Yer Man.
Posted by: simon at May 1, 2008 12:47 PMHurray! Happy birthday, Leah!
Posted by: Super-S at May 1, 2008 12:52 PMAwww, happy birthday! Also, it's hilarious, because when I turned 30, I got something from AARP and I almost shit myself.
Posted by: jonniker at May 1, 2008 12:56 PMHappy Birthday!
Happy snappy birthday! You don't look a day over 28. Well, okay, maybe *one* day.
Posted by: Assertagirl at May 1, 2008 12:58 PMHappy birthday! May you get everything your little heart (and the other little heart) desires.
=)
Happy Birthday! I hope you enjoy some sparkling apple juice tonight while pretending it's champagne. Here's to many more 29th birthdays.
Posted by: hillary at May 1, 2008 12:59 PMYAY! Happy 29th!
Posted by: Lisa at May 1, 2008 01:08 PMHappy Birthday, beautiful friend!
I hope it's the best one yet :)
Posted by: Angella at May 1, 2008 01:09 PMHappy Birthday!! Please post pictures of your cats in their party dresses and hats. -- Thanks
Posted by: Ted at May 1, 2008 01:29 PMhappiest of birthdays to you :)
Posted by: nicole at May 1, 2008 01:38 PMHappy Birthday!
I love it when I can laugh at my junk mail. My 34-year-old husband gets invitations to hearing screenings and retirement seminars all the time. My cat gets invitations to subscribe to the Baltimore Sun, Variety, and Direct TV.
Posted by: merrymishaps at May 1, 2008 01:44 PMhappy birthday leah!
Posted by: leenie at May 1, 2008 01:49 PMHappy Birthday!!
Posted by: Abbie at May 1, 2008 01:52 PMI guess you won't be wanting that Jazzy Power Chair I got you for your birthday. *SIGH*
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
Posted by: jive turkey at May 1, 2008 01:58 PMIt's my birthday today as well! So happy mutual birthday to us! May 1 rocks.
Posted by: Suz at May 1, 2008 01:58 PMMany happy returns! (It snowed here today)
Posted by: Emily at May 1, 2008 02:02 PMHAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Posted by: El at May 1, 2008 02:06 PMHappy Birthday!
Posted by: awatersign at May 1, 2008 02:13 PMHappy birthday! I've just partied for 48 hours straight in Amsterdam for you, I hope that shall suffice (also please apologise to Yer Man for me as I may have been slightly squiffy when emailing him yesterday :) )
Posted by: Catherine at May 1, 2008 02:22 PMAnd many more!
Posted by: Mandee at May 1, 2008 02:22 PMThat is so funny you received that on your birthday! At least it wasn't for incontinence. :) Enjoy the last year of your 20's and best wishes for the year to come! Sounds like it will be an exciting one...
Posted by: 180/360 at May 1, 2008 02:26 PMActually, the last year of my twenties is officially over. I've just completed my twenty-ninth year and am now living my thirtieth. Isn't it so much worse to think about it that way?!
Posted by: Leah at May 1, 2008 02:36 PMHappy birthday! Twenty-nine is going to be something ELSE, girlie!
Posted by: Lawyerish at May 1, 2008 02:45 PMoh weird, you're like the fourth person i know whose birthday is on may 1st. . . anyway, happy b-day!. . .
Posted by: bloopy at May 1, 2008 02:47 PMHappy Birthday!!!! I hope today is wonderful as well as the rest of the year and might I add, you have quite lovely skin. A strange compliment I know but I thought it was worth noting.
Posted by: gorillabuns at May 1, 2008 02:48 PMHappy birthday!
Is Simon making you a cake? He'd damn well better. It's one of those immutable laws in life - everyone ought to have a cake on their birthday.
Posted by: Doola! at May 1, 2008 02:54 PMTHIS IS YOUR BIRTHDAY SONG!
IT ISN'T VERY LONG!
(That little ditty was accompanied by a kazoo, if you were wondering.)
Happy birthday!
Posted by: Moose at May 1, 2008 03:05 PMHappy, happy birthday!
Posted by: Jennifer H at May 1, 2008 03:10 PMHappy Birthday!
Posted by: will at May 1, 2008 03:13 PMHappy happy birthday!
Posted by: She Likes Purple at May 1, 2008 03:38 PMMayday, mayday, someone's having a birthday! (Like you haven't heard that before.) Hope it's happy and romantic! And what a very sweet comment from Simon.
Posted by: Linda at May 1, 2008 03:51 PMHappy Birthday! At least your mail wasn't AARP and all that. Or Wilfred Brimley looking up at you. Scooter Store is mild.
Posted by: Cari at May 1, 2008 04:26 PMhappy birthday!
Posted by: jeorg at May 1, 2008 04:26 PMHAPPY BIRTHDAY!!
Posted by: Super Sarah at May 1, 2008 04:31 PMHappy Birthday!!!!
Posted by: Sarah at May 1, 2008 04:37 PMHappy Birthday, Miss Leah.
And as a belated birthday gift I will soon be booking a flight. To SFO! Actually that might end up being a really cruel gift but it's the thought that counts.
Posted by: Heather B. at May 1, 2008 05:21 PMhappiest of happy birthdays, leah!
Posted by: lindsey at May 1, 2008 06:19 PMHappy birthday! :)
Posted by: leandra at May 1, 2008 08:07 PMHappy Birthday!! I know your wishes will all come true :)
Posted by: Brooke at May 1, 2008 09:28 PMHappy Birthday!
I turned 36 a month ago and the week of my birthday I got information about joining AARP in the mail. I should be so lucky to retire at 36!
29 was a good year for me. I hope it is for you as well!
Posted by: Cat at May 1, 2008 10:05 PMHappy Birthday Leah! I hope you had a wonderful time today.
Posted by: monkey at May 1, 2008 10:08 PMI, too, have discovered the bang trick, although it took me a little longer.
Happy birthday, lady. You're a good egg.
Posted by: Kristin at May 1, 2008 10:27 PMI was waiting for this post and the chance to wish you a happy birthday, but the time zone thing and exhaustion made me go to bed last night before you posted this. Better late than never: Tillykke med fødselsdagen! Have a great 08. 29 isn't so bad.
Posted by: Drew at May 1, 2008 11:46 PMHappy birthday, sweetpea. May all the crow's feet earned this year be from laughing at chubby baby antics.
Posted by: Krissa at May 2, 2008 06:27 AMhappy happy happy birthday!
Posted by: alison at May 2, 2008 06:34 AMHappy Birthday! I'll catch up to you next year- oh wait...
;)
ANYway, I hope you had a lovely one, May Day baby!
I'm a little late, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I hope you had a fantastic day!!
Posted by: Sabrina at May 2, 2008 01:53 PMOh! I forgot to mention, on my 18th birthday, I got a membership eligibility letter from AARP. WTF?
Posted by: Sarah at May 2, 2008 02:28 PMHAPPY BIRTHDAY!! Hope you had a great day, and I agree. If you don't do things now you might never do them, good sentiments. :)
Posted by: Michelle at May 3, 2008 12:39 AMHappy belated birthday, Leah!!
Posted by: Jess at May 7, 2008 08:45 AMTWICE this week, we received information from funeral homes. TWICE.
Posted by: jenB at May 8, 2008 11:23 AM
