Hey Shorty . . . It's Your Birthday

We're gonna party like it's your birthday . . .

Seriously though, my 30th birthday was last weekend and it was awesome!!!!

I was a little bummed at first because I didn't think my dad would be able to make it to dinner on Friday night. He was flying back to N.O. from a business trip and wasn't due back until 7 pm. We were having dinner at 5:30 because everyone was tired from the week. S, J and I were hanging out on my mom's back porch when I see this shadow through the sliding glass doors . . . it was dad!!!!

He'd taken an earlier flight and surprised all of us!!!!!

On Saturday we all went to breakast and I got to hang out with my mom. She took me shopping and even bought me a birthday outfit. Later that afternoon we went back to the house and my longest-lasting friend Mischa was there.

I've known Mischa since we were in third grade and although our friendship has had lots of ups and downs she is the only woman I have ever known that will tell me when my face is dirty and help me clean it up.

She drove in from Baton Rouge at the last minute to help me celebrate my birthday. She left her three girls (three under six years of age) and her husband to party with with me.

S, J, Mischa and I met out with my brother and his partner. We started out with a really long dinner (due to the tragic waitress) that didn't need to be as long as it was, but man was it fun. Then, we went over to Parade (a gay bar in New Orleans) and were fortunate to get in before they started charging a cover (we got there at 9ish or so) AND it was still happy hour.

And then something truly wild happened. I'm sitting on a stool (yes, we even had bar stools to perch on) and I look over J's shoulder and see this guy. This guy that looks really familiar and I ask J, "Hey, is that Ty?"

So, always the forward person, J goes over there and asks, "Hey, is your name Ty?"

And, it totally was. Ty was a guy that I new at LSU. He was an aerobics instructor back in the day so I didn't really know him, but then he sort of fell into my circle of friends through another friend so we really go to know him really well. The amazing thing was that in 1994 Ty was HIV positive and we just never knew how much more time we'd have with him. 11 years later he's still around (although he did have a close call two years ago) and as crazy as ever.

We did a lot of drinking and a lot of dancing and on the ride home I realized how truly blessed I am. J flew across the country to help me celebrate my 30th birthday, Mischa dropped her plans at the last second to hang out with me, S took time off to drive in with me and my dad caught an earlier flight to make it for dinner . . . how did I get so lucky to have all of these wonderful people in my life?

I'm not going into 30 with that sense of dread that most people seem to when they hit this age. I'm embracing this new decade with all of the joy and energy that is humanly possible and with these amazing people in my life I can't wait to see what's next.