Dirty 30: Happy Birthday to Me
July 23, 2006
It's finally official. That 30's Guy is...well...30!As expected I feel like I did when I was 29. Actually, check that. At 29, I felt like I was at a crossroads, and today I don't feel that way. Starting Monday I will be in Day 1 at the new job. I have no clue what they'll be having me do since my new boss (who doesn't work out of the location I'll be in) actually didn't return my call from Friday afternoon. Basically, I'm showing up Monday AM with no idea of who will be training me. I thought it was going to be my cousin, but he told me he has training all week, so some other dude was mentioned as the guy I'll be working with for the week. No matter. I am looking forward to this fresh start; its been a long time coming.
As for the actual birthday, today was basically a day of cleaning up from the bash, and rest. The party was a huge success. I had over 30 guests, and the food was outstanding. I can attribute the success to Batgirl. She really put in a lot of work these last few weeks, and the result was a lot of happy (and full!) guests. While the setting up process, which started Friday night and didn't end until the first two guests arrived, was a real bitch, it felt really good to just hang with everyone and have fun. Some brief highlights:
- My buddy Jet, trying to help get the catered food from the oven to the sternos, has a pan full of ziti cave in on him and a quarter of it lands on the pavement, and splashes sauce up onto his shorts and onto Batgirl. Batgirl's sister than proceeds to hose her down to fight the stains. Funny sight. I felt bad for Jet since he was only helping.
- The three-inning whiffle ball game won by the "homeboys" with a two-run walk-off homerun by Master k. My team, the "college buddies" leave the schoolyard dejected.
- The flip-cup and beer pong games. It felt like old times, like when we were in our early 20's and just getting out of college.
- My birthday cake, which had a Boston Red Sox logo and picture of me in my pajamas on Christmas when I was maybe 7 or 8, holding a Transformer action figure. I then proceeded to blow out the candles and make a brief speech thanking my guests for coming, and a special thanks to Batgirl for all her work on the party. That elicited a round of applause for her.
- Finding out my family is getting me two tickets to Atlanta to see the NY Giants play the Falcons in October. My cousin then tells me he is willing to give up his opening night tickets to Giants Stadium to see the G-men host the Colts in a battle of the Manning Brothers (Eli vs. Peyton).
- Having a long talk with my pal Gian, who tells me he had an emotional conversation with Batgirl in my kitchen about me. He tells me that she broke down into tears of happiness when she conveyed her amazement that, at the age of 30, I was available to meet her, and how happy and special I make her feel; she feels extremely lucky to have me. In his opinion, he's never seen something more pure and genuine said by someone before. "I wanted to just tell you that this girl really loves you, and how happy I am the two of you found each other."
That talk with Gian has really stuck in my head since we spoke late in the party. While I know where I stand in her heart, hearing it from the point of view from an outsider and knowing how she was so moved it brought tears to her eyes was touching. Gian was always one of the guys in college who'd be there to listen to me when I struck out with the ladies, and has remained that type of friend to this day. He was very moved by the show of emotion from my girlfriend, and he wanted me to know that after the years of frustration, he thinks I've finally got it right. I haven't mentioned to Batgirl that I know about this talk she had, but she did bring up today how she had a deep conversation with Gian, and how she senses he has an enormous amount of respect for me.
You know, you can take all the gifts in the world, but spending the day with my closest friends and the woman I love, and knowing just how much they all respect and care about me is the best present of all.
posted by That 30's Guy @ 10:37 PM,
