BIrthday Season

When I was little I loved every day from right after Easter until the end of May. That, I considered, was my birthday season. Now, though, it's EVERYONE's birthday season! Really, I don't mind sharing (I"m #3 of 5 kids...I know how to share), but this is a little crazy. I share with Leah, Sam, Aidan, Noah, Amy, Sue, Grace, Char, Jess, people graduating. So, I started early. Meet Toby, my first birthday present of the year:



He's a cockapoo puppy who's coming on Wednesday. He's only 2 months old! I'm sure I'll be posting new pictures as soon as I get him.

RADIOACTIVE GIRL

Have you ever wanted to be a superhero? Maybe MermaidMan, like on SpongeBob? Or Mr. Incredible (the Incredibles?) Or even Superman? Or maybe you just wanted a specific superhero characteristic, like being able to fly, or disappear, or stretch to amazing lengths. How about being radioactive? Well, let me tell you, it's not that great.

I had some medical test done so last Wednesday I was injected with something that makes me radioactive. The doctors said I'd be this way for about a month. It, apparently, doesn't hurt me at all, but they warned me to stay away from anyone pregnant or any babies for at least a week. So, no Julia, no Lisa...of course, I was planning on spending Wednesday and Thusday with Julia, but I didn't. I did see Julia on Thursday, but I stayed away from her, which is almost impossible when she looks up and smiles at you.

The doctor also warned me that if I crossed the border into Canada I'd set off some alarm that picks bombs and most likely get pulled over and searched. His advice was just to stay in the US for a month, but I already had plans to meet Amy's parents in Niagara-on-the-Lake for dinner Saturday. So he gave me a letter saying I was radioactive and was not carrying a bomb, but told me it probably wouldn't help much at the border.

So yesterday afternoon Amy and I drove up to Niagara-on-the-Lake. As we crossed the bridge I got a little scared, but the Canadian Customs guy just asked where we lived, where we were going, and told us to have a nice day. We did have a nice day. It included a lot of wine tasting and some good food. So by the time we were driving home I wasn't really thinking about the border, but more about sleeping. We crossed the bridge and waited to get to the customs guy and when we got there, everything got crazy. He asked us where we were from, where we had been all day, and then if either of us had had any medical testing recently. I said yes and handed him the letter and he yelled," I found the source, it's the blue SUV in lane 4." We got pulled over. So did the car behind us, because I am SO radioactive that there was "spillover" into their car. They took me out of the car and into the building where they held this sensor thingy toward me forever while Amy had to drive her car through this big machine. After about 8 hours (maybe really 5 minutes) the agent testing my radioactivity left me alone in the building (not really aolne...I was sitting in a room full of people.) One of the guys in the room looked at me and said, "Hey, is this normal? Do they, like, pull over a random number of people and search their cars?" I asked him what lane he had been in. He said lane 4. He was the spillover car. I apologized. The agent came back a few minutes later and said, "Ok, miss, you can go. You're going to be radioactive for the next 6 weeks or so, though, so this is going to happen anytime you cross the border during those 6 weeks."

I think I might move to Canada.

My Very Good Day.

Today I drove into the parking lot at school and got a spot in the first row. And it was raining. I knew then that it was going to be a very good day.

While I was driving home after my 1/2 day at work (really 1/3 day, since I got there around 9:30 after school and left around noon), I was hungry and wanted to stop at Mighty Taco. A little voice in my head, though, said, "It's Friday! You can't eat meat!" I was going to ignore it, like I try to do with all the voices in my head, but it kept talking. I started listening when it said, "you got a spot in the first row today." So, I knew God wanted me to really not eat meat (don't ask how I connected those two...they're just connected in my head.) So I skipped Might Taco, but I started to think about why we don't eat meat on Fridays durning Lent. And how we replace it.

From what I remember from my first trip to college, not eating meat on Fridays during Lent is to remind us that Jesus carried the cross and died. It seems like a small price to pay. I don't have to carry a cross around the desert, I don't have to be nailed to it, I don't have to die and come back (although, really, that's what I'm hoping for).) I just have to not eat meat. And think of all the other food I can have. Bread and water...I'm kidding. There's lots of good not-meat food. Mac and Cheese. Cheese Ravioli's. Gnocci with Pesto. French fries. But what do the majority of people choose? Fried fish (I did no actual research on this, by the way...this is just judging by the lines to get a table at any place that has fish frys, and the fact that the 3 out of 3 siblings I spoke to today were having fried fish, as was I, for dinner). I like fried fish. In fact, given the choice, I'll often choose fried fish, or fried seafood of some sort (shrimp, oysters, crab claws...mmmm...) over any type of meat. So, really, is this a sacrafice? No. Not really. Yes, I had to pass Mighty Taco up for lunch, but Filet-O-Fish value meal is pretty good too. And just as healthy.

So, all in all, today was a very good day. A great parking spot, friend fish for 2 meals (if you consider filet-o-fish "fried fish") and no heavy cross to carry through the desert.