birthday blessings

so my birthday friday started out with a poster, a paper tiara, and a song. a friend that teaches 5th grade across the hall from me sent 4 of her students in and they sang "happy birthday" to me. it was supremely cute and sweet. my students, of course, went all sorts of crazy. they wanted to know how old i was, what my favorite color was, if i had a boyfriend. oh my goodness...it was like a free for all on asking questions. after i got them focused back on getting started with a regular day, i knew the rest of the day was going to be crazy. all day long, students were leaving me notes and cards they'd made. haha...they thought they were being all stealthy, like trying to ask "normal" every time i walked by. so funny. one kid even tried to give me $0.50 as a birthday gift. so cute!

after school, a bunch of friends from school (teachers) went out to el cholo for happy hour, only to discover that they no longer had happy hour. bummer. we hung out and snacked. it was really fun! after that, it was off to a birthday dinner at BCD with 20-some people. crazy. it was so awesome that people came out to k-town to celebrate, even if we had to be clustered at different tables. haha..we took up a whole side of the back room and at one point, were "shushed" by one of the servers. but then, to be fair, some people had been chanting "bite the fish" as if they had some latent frat gene. :)

the after party was at MJ's place with cake, snacks, and presents - including a very elaborate game show like process - which was hopefully entertaining to everybody else because i thought it was pretty darn funny.

thanks to everybody who came out!!! i seriously felt (and still feel) so lucky! i was thinking about that earlier today too, as i was on campus after my class.

so blessed by everyone who:

called

e-mailed

sent a card

came to dinner

got me cake and gifts

prayed (and continues to pray) for me

birthday wished by blog

cooked for me

let me share about the craziness of working/teaching

helped me grade papers ever since i started teaching

has gotten me to play against my better judgment and thereby helped keep my sanity and some semblance of a social/real life

encouraged (and still encourages) me

there are more things than i can even count or remember that i have to be grateful for. i have truly been blessed over the last 26 years. plus, my mom even called on my actual birthday! normally, she forgets and i call her first...hahaha.

i feel like i forgot to be appreciative of something... darn...i hope it's just a nagging feeling and not really because i did forget something...

i am thankful for my communities - near and far.