A Very Merry Un-Birthday...

Birthday Week: Fun presents for each day of the week brought to me by Dave and his never-ending amounts of generosity and love. 

Friday:

I got home from my last and final day of Resto (insert: crowd cheering loudly) only to be whisked away for a secret dinner from none other than boyfriend. I had no idea where we were going, until we pulled up to the science center parking lot. Verbatim, this is what I said to my incredibly considerate and thoughtful boy, "really Dave, I don't want a corn dog for my birthday dinner." Yes friends, I am that big of an ass. Dave rolled his eyes and said look up. Yup, Space Needle, for a split second I would have preferred the over processed mystery meat wrapped in deep fried deliciousness. P.S. about 5 years ago I all of the sudden became scared of heights and I have a self diagnosed case of high anxiety...more on that later. Anyway, we went to the top where a literally almost peed my pants. The elevator shoots up and my stomach hit the floor. The day was beautiful and once I had a few drinks in my tummy the spinning and heights were a thing of the past. I enjoyed the best company a girls could have, lobster, drinks, and a view to die for!

Saturday:

I woke up to Dave smiling in my face. "Morning Birthday girl, want some breakfast in bed?!" Five minutes later I got a bowl of Cheerios with bananas in it...mmm. Dave went golfing with his dad while I enjoyed yummy Panyang curry with my favorite almost-sister-in-law. When I got home I got ready to go out with the ladies and tried on several scandalous outfits and of course decided on the oh-so-sensible J.Crew tank and jeans. Sheer bliss and fun was my night with the girls. These are the friends you dream about having when you are in high school. I have the most caring and hilarious girls. We went to pre-drinks and happy hour at Pesos that included a couple too many mojito followed up with a nice game of putt-putt golf. Ivy is freakishly competitive and this requires a visual: imagine a tall leggy blonde in white heels and a fabulous bag, holding a too-short golf club, with a Mikes Hard Lemonade in hand, a bit tipsy, trying to win at putt-putt. I had a hard time containing myself. She got so mad she threw my ball and club in the mini pond. We got in a every-guys-fantasy-girl-fight in the middle of the green about my ball and the result was Ivy knee deep in the ebola and fungus infested water searching for my sporting devices. Later we followed up the golf with Chopstix and several more fruity drinks and singing. Blissful really....

Sunday:

Real Birthday, real hangover...ARGH!!! Da's dad wanted to make me birthday letter pancakes at 8am and I took my pounding brain and pissed off body out on boyfriend. In the end we had pancakes and then a 3 hour nap. I woke up rejuvenated and ready to eat chicken at Mommy's.  With 5 loads of laundry on our backs, we has a glorious down-home dinner. Fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, coleslaw, biscuits, and the oh-so yummy pink Champagne cake. Jealous and salivating? Side-note: The highlights of the night included my drunk G. Ma falling on the floor, her eating one of Georgia's dog treats, putting her fingers into 350 degree grease to pick at undercooked chicken, and repeating the same conversation 7 times before passing out while I blew out my candles. Such class. 

All together a lovely birthday week and so much more than I expected. Thanks to you all...

8th Year, First Time

For the past 7 years father's day has come and gone just as every other day. We all would get together for dinner, as usual, say "Happy Father's Day" to my parents, Mom and Annie, and before I knew it another day would arrive. I don't spend time thinking about my dad on father's day because he doesn't feel like it anymore. I take a moment each year and mentally celebrate the great childhood dad I had. I most certainly DO NOT sit and dwell on what father I have now. 

Alas, today was not like every other day. No one is here. My mom is in Canada, Morgan is at Tyler's home, Sheri is at home, Dave is at his dad's, and I feel so alone. Now I have time to think about not having a dad because I don't have my family rallying around me, all of us not mentioning the elephant in the room, the lack our dad. 

So here is the truth and I must face it. I have a dad. He was lovely for years. I have memories that will last a lifetime of how much fun we had together. I remember his smile, his chair, his tools, and his food. Lots of thing I still remember and I don't want to forget. Then, there are the things I do want to forget. His selfishness, the pain he caused, deception, fighting, me alone, embarrassment, and creating a life where I had a family one day and my four people the next. How does one explain this kind of hurt? He doesn't get it, nor did he ever try to understand. His selfishness reached so far that he couldn't understand what was wrong with me? I will be forever puzzled how I lived with someone for so long and he still couldn't get why cheating and a divorce didn't sit well with me. There are no words for this feeling. It looks like a black hole. Like a headache that wont go away. A headache, hung-over, broken bones, burnt hands, paper-cuts all over, period cramps, kind of hurt. Do you feel that? That was my high school experience. Throw in a whole lot of embarrassment and never-ending questions and doubt from people who are equally selfish. 

Abandonment. That is the word for 2002. He left. Friends left. Family left. Everyone jumped ship on the family Emmerton. No longer did I have 2 sets of grandparents. No longer did I have aunts and uncles. No longer did I have cousins. Everyone gone. 

Today I am alone and he is alone. Such irony. 

Today I feel Father's Day and all it's glory.

A Birthday Wish

Some ask for money, some ask for clothes, me, I want a Helen. A little bundle of joy.  A sweet girl to cuddle up with and to keep me warm on these rainy summer nights. Who's Helen you ask? Well she's none other than.....

Yup, I want an urban goat. They just made the list for domesticated animals in the urban Seattle area. When I received my registration for the boys in the mail, there was a special box to X if you had a urban goat. I so badly want this box to apply to me. My X will be there soon....I hope!

Here's to dreaming of you Helen...

Private Schools

Other than their ridiculously overpriced classes and textbooks, I have found three very key things that I will forever love both Seattle U. and St. Martin for:

1. Small class sizes that make it possible to be something other than a number and make friends easier.

2. Free paper and computer lab time ALL the time. Including the ever accessible people that are working around the clock FOR YOU!

3. Because they charge me WAY too much money to go there, they can afford to put Charmin Ultra toilet paper in their bathrooms, free bath and body works lotion and soap, and the thick and lovely hand towel paper that we all secretly wish was in their home.