Tomorrow is my birthday. Normally I try not to think about my birthday, because usually it sucks. Like the one year, I was in the army and stationed in Texas and three days before my birthday I got a card from my mom. "happy birthday...blah, blah, blah, your sister took first in the horse show, blah, blah, blah, your brother is doing so well in school, blah, blah, blah, wish we could see you for your birthday, blah, blah, blah, oh, yeah, I'm divorcing your dad."


Then there was the year that my dad and his new wife flew down to Missouri to see me...I had just moved here with the company I work for, I didn't know a soul, and I was lonely. They said they wanted to sleep in a bit and that I should call them at 10 am and we'd go celebrate...I called 27 times. They never answered. Turns out the wife decided she wanted to go down to the casinos and see downtown, so they did it without me. They didn't get back till 8 pm. Just in time for me to drive them back to the airport.

There was the year I turned 21...Went to the bar, boyfriend got drunk, and I spent all night making sure he didn't aspirate on his own vomit.

Then there was the year that both my parents forgot. They called 4 and 7 days later, respectively, and said they supposed they just got so busy that it slipped their minds.

Then there was the year that my husband decided that this was a pretty good time to tell me he didn't love me anymore and thought we should divorce.

So, I try to ignore it. Really, can you blame me? But, this year, my 5 year old is obsessed with birthdays...She's been counting down mine for the last 14 days. Every morning she comes in the room and declares "only __ more days till your birthday mom!" and I try to act excited. She and her dad are going to try to make me a cake...Ought to be interesting...So I've been banned from returning home tonight right after work. Good excuse to go to kickboxing, though.

Oh, and my sister sent me the Dog Whisperer book and DVD, which is totally cool, because my dog needs professional help in a bad way.

Matter of fact, this has been the best birthday so far, that I can remember, mostly because nothing terrible has happened yet. We'll see what tomorrow will bring, but I'm feeling slightly optimistic, which is new for me, when it comes to birthdays.