Hooray for birthdays.

Yesterday was J's birthday, and being in fine celebratory-form, not only did I manage to power shop all morning (aiding my Mother in preparations for a soon-to-be Chew grand-child, or in my case niece/nephew) but some how I managed to cook a meal of fried chicken for five people (southern-style - marinated in buttermilk and seasoned with good stuff, then fried within an inch of its life), with sides (mashed potatoes, green beans and peas, as well as gravy) and make a birthday cake.

Hooray for birthdays. Something about eating more in one meal than you would in any other normal day, and eating copious amounts of cake is very stimulating. Well, for the birthday boy, at least.

But it all got me thinking.

21. Where did time go?

That means there's a month and two days exactly until my own birthday, and I wish I could look upon it with an expression of glee, but some how, planning for it, having a party, inviting friends and family, receiving presents ... it sort of freaks me out in a way I'm not sure is normal.

I'm predicting something of a birthday-celebration-slump coming from my general direction, and as this will be the only "milestone birthday" I'll be having for another nineteen years (because in my mind, thirty will be the next birthday to be freaked out about), I feel like I am obligated to the universe and everyone I know to (want to) care.

I've always maintained, I'm not a party giver, I am the person who attends, has a great time, gives the perfect gift (or makes the cake) and then leaves, feeling good knowing that I haven't piked and instead been the happy participator.

I'm pretty sure a psychologist out there some where (when asking me about the events of my childhood) would blame my birthday disdain entirely upon the party I once had as a kid where no-one RSVP'd and only two people showed up - one being my best friend, the other being someone I grudgingly invited because we were on the same year four netball team.

And thus, I now feel like there's too much room for failure in parties.

Maybe that's it. Or that I never quite recovered from childhood rejection.

The cake was good, though.

PS: I thought I'd google-image something slightly amusing for a graphic for this post, but instead I was amused by this link http://disney-stationary.com/greeting-cards/birthday/Goofy-Birthday-Invitation-Pink.jpg note the misspelling of stationery ('stationary' ... HAH) in addition to 'Your' instead of 'You're'. Well, when a page-author can't spell their link correctly, I suppose you shouldn't assume they'll spell anything else correctly either.