I Suck At Celebrating My Friend's Birthday

Saturday was my friend's (Andrea) birthday. Happy birthday Andrea! I hope Andrea enjoyed her day. I'm fairly certain she had a great time because Andrea loves her birthday. I think at one time, she had referred to her birthday as one of her favorite days of the year... the other being the cookout held on the third of July at my friend's (Hot Amy). Given 365 choices, I probably would not choose the third of July cookout as one of my favorite days... but that's just me.

So how do I celebrate Andrea's birthday? Naturally, I went blueberry picking with my parents. Yes, I suck at celebrating my friend's birthday. Truth be told, Andrea was very low keyed this year in regards to her birthday. So there were actually no plans afoot to celebrate her birthday, which is unfortunate... purely for selfish reasons... because I need ways to waste time. (Or at least I think I do.) Perhaps she had a secret that she did not want to share with her friends. Who knows?

Nevertheless, I got to spend quality time with my parents. It turns out, the quality time increased ever so slightly because the place we were going to pick blueberries was closed. Don't get me wrong. I love my parents. Lately, I have just been in a rut or something where I don't want to deal with anything. And unfortunately, as much as I love my parents, they always have a "to-do" list for me whenever I see them. Saturday was no different.

So in addition to celebrating my mom's birthday (her birthday was earlier in the week), I got a list of things to do for them. Life as a prodigal son is difficult, I'm sure.

Anyway, Karen and I made lunch for my parents in celebration of my mother's birthday. As well, Karen's parents stopped on by to partake in the festivities. My mother-in-law told me about her forget-me-nots. She had recently planted some forget-me-not seeds and apparently they have been growing greatly. She even almost started to tear.

Now, before anyone thinks my mother-in-law is crazy for crying over a plant, there is some history in regards to the forget-me-not. In February, there was a memorial ceremony held at South Shore Hospital who those who lost a family member. My son (Braden) who passed away almost a full year ago was among those honored. The staff at the hospital provided everyone with forget-me-not seeds to plant in the honor of our loved one.

That said, the forget-me-not plant means a great deal to my mother-in-law. Of course, my mother-in-law also had a low blood sugar reading, which is not good for a diabetic, when she was telling me about her forget-me-not. So she may have been a little off. Nevertheless, I was touched by how much she really enjoyed her plant.

Naturally, the story made me think about Braden. Unfortunately, I think one of my fears is coming true, and that only makes me angry with myself. I sometimes feel like I am forgetting how Braden looked like. Perhaps that is why I have been so moody of late because I don't want to ever forget.

Anyway, following lunch, Karen and I ended up visiting my favorite sister-in-law (Janine). Janine had invited us over for dinner... and apparently my niece (Kaleigh) invited us over to watch "Kung Fu Panda".

Dinner was great. Janine and Karen went over to Janine's neighbor's yard to get some zucchini. It turns out that Janine's neighbors have a big garden. It also happens to be the case that the neighbors are away for a month. So while away, the neighbors asked Janine to basically loot their garden. What a good deal. If it were me, there would be no vegetables left in the garden and my stomach would be chock full of zucchini... but that's just me.

As well, an interesting thing happened while at Janine's. And by interesting, I mean I found a new way to waste and squander my existence. That new way: Bejeweled. Like Karen is apt to do, I happened to stumble upon Janine's iPod Touch. Apparently on her iPod Touch was an application for Bejeweled. Naturally, I was curious about the game and started to play. I have never played the game. It was an interesting game to say the least.

All in all, Saturday turned out to be a low key day... much like Andrea's birthday celebration.