the deuce deuce
As I said to the Jefa in her beautiful, sunlit kitchen this afternoon, I feel genuinely apathetic to the birthday as an event, but am going to eat a bit of crow here and wax romantic at the end of a day that felt so good (and there have been many of those recently), to say: perhaps I'm hitting something of a stride? In life, that is.

Far more than one should ask of a birthday, but LiveJournal is the place for grand and fleeting pronouncements of this sort. Lauren and I walked about Cambridge today, hand lazily in hand, we went places and made friends, Rosie and Chelsea were there for fajita dinners and I got a bit tipsy for a spell. Never have I had so many birthday wishes, and yesterday's party was lovely and such a mixture of folks and went off beautifully. Also, I took a time out of the day to treat myself to time with someone I care for and admire, and although it was something we do nearly every other week, she put a candle in my smoothie and that made it special. After Rafe and I evangelized in bright scrawling chalk in front of FCS, we rode down to Davis and played knights and zombies on the playground, had a swing jumping contest (a throwback from my childhood), and rode through puddles. As I scuttled out of the house, Jefa said, "thanks for spending your birthday afternoon with our family," and I said, "oh, it was a great present for myself."

And that it was. I love that I have folks and figures who can be a gift to me, and I love that I've reached a point where I can savor that thoughtful time spent with one of them as a birthday blessing and the sort of gift I seek for myself. This one in particular, we seem to get richer each time, and I may never be able to clearly articulate the sundry ways she has blessed me and helped me to grow. But I am appreciative, and realize that she doesn't need to know.

So today was a good day, and so was yesterday what with the barbecue and being liturgist in church - Jefa called it "brilliant" this afternoon before sagely retracting that superlative and offering a half dozen other heartfelt adjectives. Just like an awards show nominee, it's an honor even to be accidentally called brilliant.


There have been other tremendous days which deserve accounting here, but already are slipping from a summer's memory, softening as a quart of ice cream in a backpack on the way home from the grocery store. There was a second (third? second.) adventure with Ms. Becca in there, I recall getting rolling late but diving in to buttermilk waffles - ah, yes - she brought the buttermilk! That's where that buttermilk came from. Definitely need to throw it out, but what a memento after all!

So there were waffles, and then it was just the most boiling day and we had dreams of garage sales, so we ended up trolling around Somerville's streets till she got a stack of dresses and some winter sweaters for $5 from a Tufts alum, and we cooled off with Brazilian Limeade and a lemonade at Bloc. What else could be cooler than the dogwood? We could head to the flower market on Washington and indulge my long-standing desire to make life grow. So we did that, and brought along Mr. Dupont, and were both mocked and somewhat deceived by the man at the register. Becca and I bought a mango, plantains, and chicken sausage; learned Portugese; rode home, planted, barbecued; then parted ways after I remembered a Mexico gathering. And then there was a Mexico gathering! See, what a summer this is!

Laura and I had another lovely day of things just recently, she reveling eloquently in our blessings (though of course she would never call them blessings). But they are that. People we love, food to eat, bikes to pedal about on and get into all sorts of trouble. This is not the life of so many, but it is something I strive to never take for granted. And things keep getting better, friendships (pastoral and otherwise) grow richer, and new things happen. Here's to another year of beautiful new things.