34 years ago today...

I was born to Barbara and Robert Mehl.

I was an accident. My annoying and hateful older brother wasn't the only source of this information. My parents eventually confirmed it. My dad was 41 when I was born and my mom was 33. (Holy crap, I start to twitch at the notion of having a baby right now.) When I was born, my sister was 11, my brother was a week from being 10, and the annoying and hateful brother was 7. I may have wrecked some sort of delicate balance, but I was a fantastic item for show & tell when my brother turned 10.

I don't know why I tell that little story. I don't know if it has anything to do with anything. But there it is.

I'm happy to be 34.

This is the age I will be when I graduate from college, which means I'm close to the end. This might also be the age I will be when I can't find a job and take up residence in a tent city. But we'll worry about that in December.

Here's what I already know about being 34:

I still don't know everything.
I still make some bad decisions.
Birthday wishes from my kids are my favorite.
When I ask for something specific for my birthday, I get something I like.
I like birthday cards, e-cards, e-mails, tweets and texts.
I'm happy I have more friends in my life than I did when I turned 33.
My husband makes a mean strawberry birthday cupcake.
Calories don't count on my birthday.

Today had its highs and its lows. I'm counting on the rest of the year going in an upward direction, starting with the date I have with my husband tonight.

And for fun, here is a picture from my trip to Kansas City over the weekend. I've known some of these girls since second and third grade.



My older and less annoying and hateful brother used to poke fun at my friends' names. Whenever I would make plans, he would say, "Are you going to go with one of those 'E' girls??" I thought he was insufferable. Now, I kind of see his point.

The names of the other girls are Marcy, Becky, Stacie, Kelsey and Jody.