Another Year Older...

My birthday alarm was Kate screaming from her bed. I ran in and she was gagging, so we raced to the toilet so she could puke. What a way to start my special day. I had been planning to run a 5k with my friend Anne, and nothing was going to stop me, so I tucked Kate into bed with Bruce and made my way to Anne's house. Anne was sick too, but she soldiered on for my sake.

The 5k was called "Beat Beethoven." It's a fund raiser for my local library, which should help explain how nerdy the rest of this is going to sound. You must run the 5k faster than Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, which is about 32 minutes and some seconds. A man dressed as Beethoven (including the crazy gray hair) is the pace setter, and you try to run faster than him in order to cross the finish line before the final notes of the symphony ring out. I've totally been preparing for a race of this caliber by tapering (since I was totally sedentary the 48 hours previous), carb loading (for the last 34 years), and training at high altitudes (Cedar Hills is at least 100 feet higher than Pleasant Grove).

I did beat Beethoven! In fact, I was enough ahead of him that I couldn't even see him when I crossed the finish line. It was my personal best, and while still pretty darn slow, it was fun to push myself a little. Bruce and the girls met Anne and I at the finish line for the Lion's Club Breakfast. Weirdly, the race was not a loop, so we wound up at a totally different spot than where our cars were. It was like an episode from "The Office."

Kate seemed recovered from the morning incident, so we decided to take the girls to the Utah State Fair.

Kiki totally dug the sheep. Kate wanted to know why some sheep were naked, some had coats, and some were wearing "swimsuits." Can anyone explain?

Kate milked a mechanical cow.

Kiki actually went up and petted this 3000 lb. steer. She is brave.

Kate stuck to petting babies. This sweet little thing was just a month old.
Bruce and I have been explaining the "circle of life" to Kate. It all started when we ordered a quarter of a cow, Kate was all excited to see our cow, and was somewhat mystified by the paper wrapped packages that went into the freezer. So, we've been talking about where meat comes from, and Kate seems to be taking it in stride. She likes to eat cows, pigs, and chickens, she says. When we were looking at the chickens, whenever she saw an empty cage she would say, "...and that chicken got killed." No sadness, just very matter of fact. She did make me promise that we would never eat Anne's pet bird, who she is quite fond of.

The real fun started on the way home. Kate started complaining that her stomach hurt, and she had to go to the bathroom. In summary, the large part of my birthday was taken up racing with Kate to the potty. Poor kid. Poor me, as well, because it was just WAY too much fecal matter for a birthday girl, but what could be done? Our plans for the evening were sidelined. I felt a little sorry for myself, but I guess I need to just get over it. By 7:30, Kate had settled down enough that we went to Purple Turtle for dinner. Bruce said, "Purple Turtle is where you want to go for your birthday dinner?" somewhat incredulously. "Hell, no," I snapped back, "but there is what I WANT and then there is what I can ACTUALLY HAVE."

I think as you age, birthdays become less and less about what you want. It's not that you don't get nice things (in fact, Bruce gave me some very cute shoes and accessories for my MP3), it's just that your desires become more immaterial, and therefore almost impossible to gift. If only someone could figure how to package and wrap 15 hours of uninterrupted sleep, or a day where no one climbs on you, or clean laundry for a year. My favorite moment of the day was coming home from the 5k and seeing that Bruce and the girls had picked up the house- it was such a treat. Even though my birthday turned out to be something of a bust, it was still nice to be with my friend and family and at least I know they love me.