birthdays....

true life: my little brother was born on my second birthday.

this means that, growing up, we ALWAYS had joint parties. for the first ten-or-so years, it made sense. we both ran with the same little hooligans and were into the same things. around 13, i started to grow quite weary of the joint parties. for his 12th birthday, he wanted to have a paintball party. me, being a 14-year-old female, did not.

i think that was when we started having separate parties. (i think that was also the year i got my first camera. Nikon N55. good times.) anyway, we had separate friend parties from that point on, but the family celebration was still the same. we fought about where to go out to eat. i always wanted french or italian. he always wanted japanese steakhouse.

when i got into high school, i found out that one of my best friends was also born on march 10, 1988. in the delivery room next door to me. i think i'm something like 2 hours older than jenn agee.

my freshman year of college, march started looming. when it got closer, we realized that three of us were born within a week of each other. there goes the idea of my own birthday. the three of us now live together. kathleen was born on march 8, i was born on march 10, and larkin was born on march 15.

there's been talk of having a joint birthday party. it's a great idea, really it is. saves everyone's time and money, both of which seem to be scarce these days. but i can't help but not want it. i want my own birthday celebration. i'm a selfish 22-year-old.

for my birthday this year, i don't want any presents, i don't want any surprises, i don't even want anyone to have to pay to go out to dinner to celebrate. all i want is to go on a really long hike with my closest friends. i want to walk and take photos and talk and fellowship and maybe even stop at a beautiful spot for a pb&j.

(hint: also, i realllllly dislike theme parties. which is why i left town sophomore year when people lovingly tried to throw me one. i'm sorry, i'm just not a fan.)