My Girlfriend’s Birthday

My girlfriend — often referred to as “my girlfriend” in this blog — turns 24 today. Begrudgingly. As I reminded her this morning, this is the last year she can send in her audition tape to be on MTV’s The Real World. You know you’re getting old when you can refer to the kids on The Real World as, well, kids.

July 31 marked one year since we moved to Portland (before abruptly moving back 11 months later), and that got me thinking about what we did for Beth’s birthday last year — a day at the beach, sushi, a few drinks, bed. I don’t recall buying her anything substantial, because I was in Day 4 of my 91-day unemployment streak. That wasn’t the hard part, though. The hard part was seeing all the names fill her Facebook wall with well wishes and hearing her phone ring every other minute with a “Happy Birthday!” text from another friend or family member. Still, the only person she could celebrate with was me. That may have been the first time I realized being far from home kind of sucked.

But here we are and Beth and I don’t have to celebrate her birthday alone. She’s the one without a job this time, so I get to spoil her. How? We’re starting with two slowpitch softball games tonight for my company’s team. (Hey, it’s the playoffs!) That’ll be followed by a few modest drinks and birthday present(s) with friends. Luckily, at age 24, that passes as a good night.

Please wish Beth a happy birthday in the comment section. She’d be totally flattered.

P.S. Longer posts are coming. I’m seeing an optometrist today for some eye problems I’ve been having for the past few months. Initially, I thought it was allergies, but it appears be some sort of infection. Nevertheless, when my eyes are back and it doesn’t hurt to squint at the computer screen, I’ll be blogging at full force. Thanks for sticking with me.