Birthdays have been a little bit of a touchy subject for me, historically speaking. Growing up there I had a few birthday parties where nobody showed up or where things didn’t go as expected and that’s been enough to make me anxious for the whole of September. Luckily, the last few years have been an exercise in rewiring the way I think about celebrations and birthdays as a whole so I’ve gotten better at handling my anxieties.
As far as birthdays go, this one has been really nice. We woke up early and I got to open a package that came from my older brother in Texas. I burst into tears pretty much instantly when I saw he sent me a stack of photos of us from our childhood, as well as pictures of him and his girlfriend. He also sent me a beautiful blown glass pumpkin and a jar of salsa and chili con queso! I cried and I cried, so thankful for his thoughtful gift. I even took a picture and sent it to him, haha. Then I opened Alex’s gifts and I cried even more because he made a photobook of our trip to Vegas to see BTS using the photos from this photo journal. I just feel really lucky to have a person in my life who gets me and makes me feel seen. It was so cool to see my photos printed in person and now I want like a million more photo books with my photography. Alex also surprised me with a new BTS album to add to my collection: Wings. He also got me a Halloween themed colouring book, an adorable model cable car I’ve been coveting for years, a laser level, and a giant salt lamp!!! I’ve always loved the look and mood of salt lamps (I couldn’t care less whether or not they have any “health benefits” haha) so I was really shocked to see he’d gotten me one!
Anyway, after presents I had a lengthy soak in the tub and then we got ready to go into town before catching a film. We hit up all of my favourite charity shops to do some treasure hunting and we found a cat water fountain for £5, a shot spinner game, and had a good laugh at all of the funny ceramics we saw along the way. Right before we had to get going to the cinema we stopped in TK Maxx and I found a terrazzo plant stand that I thought would make a great stand for my new salt lamp, as well as a pumpkin decoration that I bought last year but mine was broken by the cats so I didn’t hesitate to buy the new one as soon as I saw it!
At the cinema we got nachos and popcorn and we saw Bodies, Bodies, Bodies (2022) and had a great time! Surprisingly, the theatre wasn’t totally empty even though it was a matinee screening. Afterwards, we came home and chilled for a bit before ordering a takeaway from our fave local vegan restaurant. For dessert Alex presented me with a stack of doughnuts and I blew the candles out. Fingers crossed my birthday wish comes true!
