For the first time in five years, C was around for my birthday. The last time C was around for my birthday was 2015, immediately after graduating from college.
I don’t need to add to the “2020 is a weird year” chorus, but this year’s birthday was definitely different from historical ones. I had built a bit of a birthday tradition- go get a massage, go get a mani/pedi, order delivery for lunch/dinner, and spend most of the day reading a book while sitting outside, hopefully at a pool. Well, with the global pandemic going on, I was trapped inside. Luckily for me, C made the day extra special, and, much to my stomach’s pleasure, he made it a day of my favorite food.
For breakfast, I wanted to order a Chicken Fried Steak from Cracker Barrel. It’s not my favorite food, but it seemed pretty indulgent and, thus, birthday-appropriate. Instead, they stopped taking orders as I was sending the order, so we ended up ordering Crepes from All Things Chocolate in Richmond Hill.
For lunch, we had burrata, red roasted peppers, and tomatoes with balsamic vinegar and basil.
I had the brilliant idea that we would pick movies all day based on the cast and use one movie’s cast to drive to the next one. I wanted to start with Tom Hanks, so at Casey’s suggestion, we started with Charlie Wilson’s War. That had Julia Roberts, so next we watched Mona Lisa Smile. Mona Lisa Smile includes Julia Stiles, one of my faves! We ended with Save the Last Dance. We had talked about branching off Kerry Washington but were movie’d out at that point.
For dinner, Casey ended with a fancy surf-and-turf featuring my favorite scallops! I could have just eaten those scallops for dinner! They were so delicious. These were the absolute best scallops Casey has made to date. Rib eye, scallops, and asparagus- fancy schmancy.
Month 3 of staying-at-home is a weird time to celebrate, but C made it special. Twenty-seven already started a bit stressful, but one day at a time.
Previous birthdays:
Emilie is an Army Wife, Data Engineer, and CrossFitter with a love for working through her thoughts in this space on the internet. She is a contributor to many open source projects including dbt, Meltano, and GitLab. She lives with her husband Casey, their son RJ, and their pup Bo in Columbus, GA.