The Best Birthday Ever..

... or not.

Saturday was my 29th birthday.
You know those days you wake up and just know it's going to be a bad day? This was one of those days. I woke up feeling crummy (probably something to do with staying up until 2 am the night before). Alex had to work that morning, so I took advantage and stayed in bed until noon. ** My birthday is one of the only days I can stay in bed until noon and not feel completely guilty. While I was laying there in hibernation, I glanced out the window and yes, it was snowing. Freezing butt cold and snowing. I've never had snow on my birthday. Maybe I should've considered it a gift or some kind of early Winter miracle, instead I was annoyed. Shortly thereafter, I realized that an unwelcome visitor had also decided to drop by, or should I say start? Yes, the dreaded monthly visitor that always comes at the most inopportune times and this time a week late. No worries... once Alex was home from work, we had made plans to go see Dial 'M' for Murder at BYU and then to dinner. I wasn't going to let headache/crummy feeling, snow or my monthly friend ruin my day. I had been looking forward to this all week. Unfortunately, once Alex got home we decided to engage in a "conversation" (i.e. yelling match, me yelling, him thinking I was psychotic, and rightfully so) about finances. We have yet to agree on this topic... that will be a sign of true progression in our marriage when we're able to discuss money and remain calm, possibly even agree. I'll keep praying.

Anyway, the conversation happened and at one point I completely exploded. I realize now this was my unstable hormones combusting, but at the time I felt justified. We parted ways and I went to get ready with the intention of leaving the house by 2:00. I was certain the play didn't start until 2:30 and this would give us plenty of time. (Note: Prior to leaving the room, I made the declaration that I didn't want to go with him. Again, credit the psychotic, irrational feelings.) I finished getting ready and decided to take some time out to regroup, this was around 1:30 - still plenty of time before we had to be out of the house. I sat there for a good half hour thinking about everything and finally came to my senses... then he entered the room and spoke. It's now 2:05, he says, "Did you want to go to the play, because it started 5 minutes ago." What?!... WHAT?! He knew the whole time that it started at 2:00, but didn't want to tell me because he thought I really didn't want to go and that him correcting me would just make things worse. PMS 101: Most of what comes out of my mouth during this time is irrational and untrue. If I wanted to do this thing 5 days ago, I still want to go. I'm just telling you in secret PMS code. Please understand... and in the meantime, PLEASE don't do anything to tick me off.. which is pretty much everything you do right now.

So.. that small, important detail was left out. We had already paid for the tickets and didn't want to waste the money, so we hopped in the car and sped down the hill to BYU. Once we got there, we wasted 15 more minutes trying to figure out where to go (the HFAC building is one of the last places you'd ever find Alex, so he didn't know where to go). Again, my rage returned... this time in the form of hurt feelings and sadness. This is the one thing I wanted to go right all week and it just fell apart. By the time we found the theatre, we were 40 minutes late. I gave up on the play and we returned home. After talking with my Mom and crying my eyes out, I regained my composure. I decided to try and make the best of the rest of the day (Thank you Mom for helping me see the light), and we did. We finished a movie we had started earlier in the week, went to the Library, Bath and Body Works and had a super-yummy dinner at my favorite Italian restaurant, Carrabba's.

So that this experience won't have been in vain, here's what I learned:

1). Don't say things you don't mean - it almost always burns you in the end and makes you feel like an idiot once you've come back to your senses.

2). Always check the tickets before you're scheduled to attend an event. Even if you think your memory is super amazing - it will always fail you when you're trying to be right and prove a point.

3). Even when your PMSing, try to appreciate the things your loved ones are doing for you. Sure, they've become increasingly annoying - but they really are trying. Give them credit for not jumping ship at the moment you turned into the devil incarnate.

4). If it's your birthday, skip the drama, chill out and have fun.

Over the course of the day several members of my family and friends called me with birthday wishes - I do appreciate this greatly. As you can read, I was in a monster funk and didn't want to be offputting with my lack of enthusiasm for my birthday. I am grateful for the calls. Thank you everyone!

The cat was even kind enough to leave me a small gift, I found it when I was checking the deck for snow.


Thanks Kitty, I love you too!