A homemade birthday card, Saturday Fresh Market shopping, coffee on the beach before some serious wave action, breakfast for lunch accompanied by margaritas and I would say Abasi’s birthday was off to a kickin’ start. Some R & R at the house before the night got started and then it was dinner with close friends at a beautiful Italian restaurant, cocktails at… well our bar… followed by an incredible fire show and a group of almost 100 friends and guests singing HAPPY BIRTHDAY in an incredibly off key and awesome way! And because nothing is quite normal in Puerto Viejo, Abasi’s “final” candle he had to blow out was a fire dancer’s torch. And the icing on the cake, pardon my pun, was we had a babysitter until 1am! Holy cow, we were finally out… as adults… partying and dancing with friends! It was truly a great day and we are so blessed for the people in our lives.
Yet, I couldn’t help but to think back to previous birthdays of ours… in our younger and carefree days if you will and laugh at how different it is from now. WE WENT TO SPAIN for one of my birthdays for Pete’s sake. Abasi’s birthday 3 years ago was spent in a shotty motel room on our trek to Costa Rica. After spending the day lost, we checked into the only motel we could find, our tail between our legs and settled on a beautiful birthday dinner of pistachios and tequila. If you want to read the whole story from that day, you can check out a past blog, http://followtheparrot.blogspot.com/2011/11/birthday-to-remember.html. It’s sure to keep you entertained.
But I digress. My point is we used to be movers and shakers, hotshots doing whatever, whenever. Bar hopping, big bucks spent on birthday dinners, leather jackets, expensive purses, casino boat cruises… man we went all out! I would wear my sexiest high heels all night long. And I mean, ALL NIGHT… like into the morning. We would party until the sun came up! Wake up to a house full of half drank beer bottles and completely drained vodka bottles. Birthday loving? Of course! Whenever, wherever. (Sorry parents, but let’s be honest.)
Fast forward to the present and I’m exhausted writing that last paragraph. NO NO NO, we need to know WHERE we’re going so I can make reservations, WHEN we’re going to plan the babysitter and damnit I’m wearing sandals! I woke up this morning, to the house clean and those 2 bottles of Leffe that we WERE DEFINITELY GOING TO DRINK unopened and sitting in the fridge. And holy cow… birthday sex? Can we pencil it in the DAY BEFORE your birthday to make sure we don’t forget or fall asleep first? It still counts right?
Times have changed my friends. We did get crazy with that lunchtime margarita, but truth be told I had a buzz just from that. How sad is that? Or is it? Ok, maybe not. I said it was different… and some things I do miss about being carefree and spontaneous. But a lot of things are so much better “post baby.” Like painting Kennedy’s hand to put on her Daddy’s birthday card. Or hearing her say “Hapwy Birfday Papa!” And suddenly, I’m not Abasi’s hot date for his birthday, but his little girl jumping waves with him is. And it should be. Some things are just better without even trying.
It turns out that I love the pre-planned, know what’s happening, schedule the babysitter, here’s your card, do you want to grab some coffee and hit the beach kinda life. It’s easier. But it’s sweeter. Birthdays become about family time instead of money spending and making a scene. DISCLAIMER: I DID SAY THERE WAS A FIRE SHOW AT THE BAR LAST NIGHT, so that does seem pretty spectacular, but we did not plan that, ha!
And so we had an organized and beautiful day for Abasi’s birthday. We knew where we would be and when and it still turned out perfect. I fell asleep in Kennedy’s bed, in my dress and when I woke up and walked back to our bedroom at 7 this morning, Abasi was wrapped up in a Dora the Explorer blanket, because I didn’t have time to put our clean sheets on the bed yesterday. And so I walked in, looked at my now 38-year-old love of my life, partner in crime, father to our beautiful daughter, snuggling in a Dora sheet and I love my life. I love that we got a little crazy and buzzy with our friends last night but then I fell asleep cuddling with my 2 year old. I love that my last memory from the night, as my eyes were closing, was seeing Abasi smiling in the doorway as he watched Kennedy and I fall back asleep together. I love that the more I learn about this CRAZY LIFE, the more I realize that the simple times… are simply perfect.
Happy birthday old man. I love you and I always will. Here’s to many, many more.
Do You Have a Jungle Princess? 