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Birthday 2006

Another year has gone by in the Saedighverse, along with the following milestones:
Getting and training a dog
Moving to Pembroke
Learning to live together (a work in progress)
Meeting my niece for the first time
Finally seeing my car insurance payments decrease (although only by $10/month)

This year's birthday started off fairly low-key. Dexter woke me up at our usual weekend time of 8:00 am (he is somehow able to distinguish between weekends and work days, and affords me an extra 60 minutes of shut eye on Saturdays and Sundays... he's not able to recognise stat holidays yet though). We went for a walk, and then I took myself across the street to the bakery for breakfast and to read the paper. Reading the Saturday paper in Pembroke takes all of 15 minutes, with half of the printed text devoted to syndicated advice columnists, and much of the rest to the Community Editorial Board. They write about such hot-button issues as whether or not the mother or father should get to name a baby, and is the local library worth declaring a heritage site because it was designed by an architect who worked at the same firm as a young Frank Lloyd Wright?
But I digress...
After breakfast, Dexter and I made a list and set out for a birthday trip to Walmart. Not exactly the happiest place on Earth, especially on a Saturday, but we needed drain cleaner, both of us being shedders, and I wanted to get some bulk treats to send off to Capt Mike. The universe must have remembered what an important day in its history September 23rd is, because for the first time in my life I did not have to wait in the checkout line. Normally, I try to pick out the line that appears to be moving the fastest, and then end up getting stuck behind some old woman trying to buy three tonnes of cat food using small change and Canadian Tire money. But this time, as I paced between lines trying to figure out which one would have the shortest wait time, I heard a little voice pipe up from behind the As Seen on TV merchandise "Can I help you over here". She had just been about to go on break, and had seen me. I guess I just looked special.
To celebrate my small victory over the cosmos, I decided to delay grocery shopping in favour of a $10 manicure at the nail salon in the mall next door. My cuticles now properly tended, I was able to brave my second least-favourite Saturday morning venue: the grocery store. It, too, was less distressing than normal, and Dexter and I were home by 1 pm, playing soccer in the backyard before tackling my birthday drain-cleaning. (Seriously, it could not be put off any longer.)
The rest of my birthday was not nearly as pedestrian. Capt Mike was able to call and leave a birthday message on our answering machine (he also called much later, after the festivities, and I was able to talk to him properly after getting over the initial anxiety of hearing the phone ring so late at night). I also got messages from his mom and dad and my parents. I got to talk to my sister in real-time. My friend Katie made up a birthday feast of falafel, chicken kebabs, salad, and hummus, with brownies and ice cream for dessert, and invited her neighbours and my neighbours over for dinner. After eating our fill, we all went to The Lasso Saloon (a private tribute to Capt Mike... if I can't spend my birthday with him, I can at least spend it in a place I know he'd approve) and people watched, my new favourite pastime in Pembroke.
And so begins another year.