Birthdays

I don't know about you, but I can remember at least some chronological details from each of my last birthdays. I find it comforting to remember some details chronologically on a specific date in time because otherwise life seems so lost in this amalgam of time. Here is a run-down.

2009 (25): Sign my first official contract as a teacher. My first real job. Drive to LA and go to Disneyland. Meet up with Lissie and Sean in Redlands for a sushi dinner and watch "Sexo con amor" (one of my favorite movies). Off to the Wild Animal Park the next day.

2008 (24): At our home in Honolulu. Grams flew out and she is there. I have to go to class during the day. Emily hangs streamers around the house and makes dinner of noodles for everyone. Friends come over. We play games.

2007 (23): I taught that morning. My first class wrote happy birthday in multiple languages on the board before I arrived. I went out to lunch with all my friends at a Chinese restaurant. They wrote really sweet cards for me. Emily made me a special dinner that night of hot and sour soup. I hosted a party that weekend and cooked some Mexican food.

2006 (22): Feeling lonely. Taught 4th grade during the day. I went to Grams house for dinner. Not the same. Went to rehearsal at Sac State for the "Under the Western Sky" play. Not much happening.

2005 (21): Managed to bring these three distinct circles of friends together for dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Nashville. 1. Ronnie, Lauren, and Jeremy. 2. Lan and Ashley. 3. Lissie, Michelle, and Tim. No free shots though.

2004 (20): In Chile, woke up to a few small gifts outside my door. More gifts came throughout the day. My friends came over to my family's house that night and my host mom made snacks for everyone. Then we went out to a club.

2003 (19): Surprised to arrive at my social studies practicum class to see that Lissie, Michelle, and Meredith have a cake for me.

2002 (18): Went to Astronomy at Sac State. Came home. Typical family cake/ice-cream party.

2001 (17): Cut class (high school). Went to a park with Stasia. Exchanged gifts. Came back to school, after school, because there was rehearsal for a play. Got a lot of grief from everyone.

2000 (16): With family. Shocked when I found out my big present for the sweet sixteen birthday was a filing cabinet. Thanks Mom.