40 Has Been Rough So Far

Mike has been 40 for ten days ... and he says that so far, it's not great. That could be due to the fact that he came down with a really bad cold the day before his birthday and it's still hanging on [as I listen to him cough as he walks down the hallway].

Despite the rather rough start to a new decade, we did try to mark this rather noteworthy occasion in a fun way. Nanny J was home from college, so I locked her up for the troops, talked Brad and Cheryl into joining us, and had a fun adults only night out planned. Mike decided that he wanted to check out the comedy club at the theater, so that's what we did. It was a holiday-themed show, and we all had a really good time. DayQuil got Mike through the performance okay, but he faded pretty quickly after and we tabled the idea of going out for an additional drink.

He spent the rest of his birthday weekend feeling really crappy and trying to finish writing a couple papers for the end of the semester. By late afternoon on Sunday, he admitted defeat and turned in the last paper - while basically delirious and not sure what he wrote. He's brilliant even when dying and got an A ... so the 4.0 has stayed in tact!

The kids and I made Mike a special birthday dinner Sunday night so they could celebrate with him too: pork chops (his request) and strawberry pie (Dec's idea). Unfortunately the birthday curse was still in full force. The pork chops were too dry and the pie didn't set and was more "strawberry soup in broken graham cracker crust." Mike said that even perfect chops and pie were not going to salvage the birthday weekend. But we all got a huge laugh out of the pie disaster and Dec even told me he wants strawberry soup pie for his birthday.

Here's hoping that as Mike welcomes yet another new decade with the rest of us tomorrow night, 40 starts to turn itself around. [The birthday gift from my parents ... a date weekend away together ... is rather promising as well!]