Hi-fiving is ALWAYS appropriate

I have been a bad girl. A bad, bad girl when it comes to updating my blog.

However here I am..... for all the world to see (ok, maybe 'the world' is a bit ambitious); hoping you will grant me your forgiveness.

Yesterday was my birthday. Yes, that's right, the 8th anniversary of my 21st (thanks, Ludwika). Some interesting things happened yesterday. I will try to list them in chronological order.

1) I finished getting ready for work in the morning at about 7:00 am so I had some time to spare before leaving for the subway station. So what do I do? Check Facebook of course! What I was met with was around 5 birthday messages! I was one happy banana, first thing in the morning.

2) I met Alison at the subway station and she started to quiz me on the escalator: "Guess what?", she challenges. "Oh my god, I have to go and stand over here cuz I can't do more than one thing at once, " I say. "Um, um; let me see. That guy called you?!?" Alison replied: "What guy? No!" As I increasingly got frustrated, I asked for a clue, thinking this was a very serious matter that I needed to guess. "Happy Birthday!" was the reply. Yep. Guess what? Happy Birthday! That was it. I was temporarily disappointed followed by a burst of giddiness.

3) I checked my cell phone voice mail to find a message from Ludwika. It was the most conflicting message ever. She started by giving me heck for not having my phone on when she called. Then she broke into singing "Happy Birthday". Then she rambled on some more. Then verbally accosted me again for not having my phone on in the morning, especially since it was my birthday. There was a little huffing and more birthday wishes. This 'dual-purpose' message could not have been done better by anyone else. Ludwika: I love it. You rock.

4) My mother called me at work to sing me "Happy Birthday". This also included my father singing in the background.

5) Around 1:30 pm pigs flew by my building.

6) Around 3 pm my co-workers sang me an enthusiastic, out-of-key rendition of Happy Birthday. I proceeded to dodge every possible question on my age. Are you 25? Yup. Are you 23? Yup. Wait, are you 21? Yup, that too. Cake was frozen strawberries in a white sponge cake with white icing. Mmmmm.... Thanks, Carolyn!

7) Surprise! Leslie and Carolyn announced at around 3:45 pm that they would be taking me out for a birthday drink after work. We behaved completely unusually and ordered a whiskey sour (me), a Creemore (Leslie) and a rum and coke (Carolyn). Okay. I lie. This is what we always order.
I don't know about them, but my drink tasted ESPECIALLY good because it was spent with good friends, it was my birthday...... and it was free.

8) I checked my voice mail messages to find out that Sal had left me a birthday greeting around 1:30 pm. (See number 5).

9) I went to the local public school to vote. Seeing as I was new to my riding, I needed to complete the voter registration. The woman was thorough.... okay she was slow. When she got to the part where she transcribed my birthdate from my driver's licence to the form, she had a moment of pause. She looked up at me and I just smiled. "Is it....?" she asked. "Yep, it's my birthday!" I replied. "Well happy birthday!" she said as she shook my hand. Then the rest of the poll workers at the table wished me the same. While the registration was still being completed, Alison walked in. She then yelled "Happy Birthday" again to ensure that EVERYONE in the polling station was aware of this important event. She waited for me to finish voting. Before we left, we hi-fived to congratulate ourselves for voting (which begs the question: why didn't they question our voting age?) and also hi-fived for my birthday. Lesson learned: There is ALWAYS a good reason to hi-five a friend. Maybe two.

10) I was incredibly late to yoga class. However, Shannon's friends were nice enough to reserve a mat for me. Thank to all of them, whose names I don't remember.

11) The evening wrapped up with me, in my pajamas, relaxing on the couch. A great end to a busy, happy day.

It was a great birthday! And I thank everyone that made it special.