Happy(ish) Birthday

I turned 28 this past Thursday. I know. I feel so old. I also know, before any of you say it, that I’m not that old. And that in ten, fifteen, twenty years, I’ll look back at 28 and think what a young’un I was. But even so, every birthday seems to get harder. I’ve pretty much planned off my face drunkenness for my 29th and 30th birthdays. Those will be fun blogs, right?

So here, 2 days later, I am feeling a little melancholy. My actual birthday passed in a blur. Due to my poor scheduling skills, I managed to have a dentist appointment for my kids, a photo shoot, about a hundred miles worth of driving, and a midnight movie (more on the movie in a minute) all in one day.

The dentist appointment was fairly uneventful, aside from Ashton having a teeny tiny cavity that they scraped and sealed on the same day, with the help of a little nitrous oxide (Ashton on laughing gas is hilarious- at one point he started flapping his arms like he was flying, saying, “My hands feel weeeeeeak!”)- oh, and the fact that my kids’ adorable dentist has shifted the majority of his practice one city over. The kids were not too affected. I, however, was slightly devastated.

By the time we got home from the dentist, I had just enough time to shower and straighten up my house a little before taking the kids over to my mother in law’s for her to watch them during my photo shoot. We stayed at her house for a little over an hour. I did manage to doze on the couch for about a half hour. I drove home to meet our clients, to begin the 30-40 minute drive to our photo site. On the way there, we dropped my sister off at a mechanic’s for her to pick up her car.

The shoot was a blast (understand, I’m not complaining about the shoot. I love taking pictures, so it wasn’t punishment to do it on my birthday. It was, however, extremely exhausting)... the couple was fun to work with, and are possibly two of the most beautiful people in America.

Sorry, folks... that's all you get to see for right now!

 But I had hoped to be done by 7, and we didn’t wrap up till around 8. Then driving the 40 minute drive back home.... by the time I dropped them back off and headed to pick up my kids, I had 25 minutes to meet my family for drinks...

The orange slice from my sangria... I was trying to smile, but the cold hurts my teeth.

My good friend Justin and my brother Adam

My brother Ben. He's going to adore this picture.

My dad, the "Patriarch".

 before...

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2!

Ben, me, and Adam in our homemade HP shirts.

This movie was the highlight of my birthday, possibly of my year. I’ve been waiting for it for 8 months. Call me a geek, if you will, and I will gladly accept that (although I wasn’t as extreme as some of the other moviegoers that night). Most of my family are avid book readers... so book movie premieres are a huge deal to us. Those of us who don’t read, we kind of carry along on the wave of our zeal. Jeremy, for instance: He hates watching movies with my family. We talk. A lot. And convey feelings with our eyes. And text each other. And lean across and give high fives. And, more often than not, complain audibly about how the movies differ from the books (purists, you see...). When he decided he was going to come to this midnight premiere with us, I tried to dissuade him. I really did. Not because I didn’t want him there... mostly because I knew how miserable he would be, in a theater full of Harry Potter nuts, dressed up, having costume contests and wizard duals, and worst of all, surrounded by 12 members of my family and friends, talking and yelling and laughing. He was stubborn though. Said he demanded to see the movie with his wife on her birthday. But the very first time he leaned over to me and said, “You really need to be quiet. You’re being disrespectful to other people trying to watch the movie!”, I about clocked him. I managed to refrain, though, and merely said, “I told you to stay home.”

I don’t know how many of you have read the books and/or watched the movies. So don’t hold it against me for what I’m about to say. Going to that movie was very bittersweet. Having read the series, watched the movies, basically watched those kids grow up, it was very sad to see it all end. And the fans! Regardless of your thoughts or opinions on the Harry Potter franchise, you can’t deny that no other series can compare to its fan following. I sat around and watched costumed Bellatrix LeStranges and Molly Weasleys have pretend fights, saw everyone in their cardigans and Gryffindor colors, and I thought, “Man, I’m going to miss this.” Nothing else is going to compare. Couple those feelings with my already subpar 28th birthday, my abhorrence of growing older, and the poignancy of the film itself, and needless to say, I was pretty much a wreck that night.

I don't really know what's happening here. Neither does Ben, apparently.

Our family, minus my brother Nathan, who had to work. :(
This was AFTER the movie, ie: After I had cried all my makeup off.

Anyway, it’s all over now. But yesterday I woke up and realized my birthday had passed me by, and I didn’t even notice. Hence the melancholy. I know I’ll have more birthdays. I’m trying not to let it get me down. Maybe I can chalk my erratic emotions to my old(ish) age.