Happy Birthday to Me

In the last minute of my birthday today, I had to squeeze in a post. This weekend has been wonderful. It hasn't been about tests, or babies, or uncertainty. This birthday was a weekend of firsts.

1. I fired my first gun! Arieh took me to a shooting range, something I have always wanted to try, and have been too terrified to do so. It was nervewracking and liberating all at once. For the first time ever firing a gun, I'm not half bad. In that moment when the safety was off, my finger on the trigger, and I was ready to fire the first shot, I thought of only one thing looking down my sights: I will fucking beat infertility and I will take back everything it's tried to take from me.
2. I planted my first garden! It's a clandestine, contraband garden. We live on a college campus, so starting our own landscaping is a bit of a no-no.... except we have a nice secluded patch of dirt near our apartment, so we've claimed it as our own. It's wonderful to have started growing something like this - it was actually A's idea, and so I'm glad we're growing something together. Albeit "illegally" ;) It's mostly marigolds and some salvia.
3. I ate meat on swords! A took me to a Brazilian BBQ with a bunch of our friends and it was a gluttonous sodium-overload of protein. My fingers and toes feel like sausages b/c I'm pretty sure I just ate my entire month's value of sodium. Lamb, pork, "chicken bacon" (chicken wrapped in bacon), beef sirloin, and, for the adventurous: chicken hearts. Did I eat one? You bet your sweet bippy I did! Was it gross? OMG yes, but damned if I didn't pop it in my mouth and take it like a champ! Will I do it again? Fuck no!

In two weeks, I get another birthday gift that we couldn't schedule in this weekend: a spa appointment! I have a half hour soak in a Japanese hot tub with my husband, followed by an hour-long private massage (hubby gets to go home after the hot tub). I can't wait. I had my first massage the week before my wedding, and it was heaven. I've decided I need to splurge on these every now and then.

In looking back over the last year, a lot has happened:

• I moved... twice.
• I started a new job.
  
• We had to give up our cats for my job (one to my parents, one to my sister).
• I thought I had a stroke. Turns out it was just a nasty migraine.
• I got a new car.
• I had my big toenail ripped off by the 66 bus on the way to work.
• A was published 3 different articles for a trade mag in his field.
• Our first friends to get married were also the first to have a baby.
• We celebrated our first anniversary.
• I saw the sun set over the Pacific.
• I played my first slot in Vegas.
• I drove a muthafuckin Corvette convertible on the Pacific Coast Highway!
• I ate *real* sushi for the first time.
• I got a shitty, shitty Dx, but have coped surprisingly well.
• My husband was laid off just hours after said Dx.
• I found my faith after it was lost for a few weeks.
• I fired a gun, planted a garden, and ate meat on swords.

It's been a helluva 26th year. Here's hoping that 27 will be just as adventurous.

*raises glass*

Cheers.