Don't Panic!

No catastrophe here, just borrowing a morsel from The Hitchhiker's Guide. It seems somehow fitting for the day.

Happy Birthday tooooo meeeeee. Started the day off with emails from both of my parents (Hi Mom and Dad!) from Africa. Not fair to make a girl cry before breakfast, but it was still a great way to begin the day.

So I'm twenty-eight now. Huh. Go figure.

I came across the following song that John Mayer wrote for some Esquire contest where readers were asked to write the music to go with his lyrics. I don't know anything more about it, except that I could have written in myself. So this year, it's my birthday song.

For Every Dream
By John Mayer

I keep a note that I wrote on a taxi-cab receipt
It says "Don't you go and listen to nobody but me"
I hit the big time for a nominal fee
You lose a friend in the end for every dream that you see come true

I got scars upon scrapes, I've got bruises on breaks
Masochistically committed to see how much of this I'll take
Three years under water, and I ain't even got the shakes
I'm going deeper and deeper and deep

I've got dreams to remember, I've got days to forget
I've got a phone call in to God but he hasn't called back yet

I've spent nights in the sunshine, I've spent days in the rain
And twenty-eight years later, I don't even know my name

Oh, now, don't fret. Don't read it with all that bleakness, think of it as thoughtful poetry rather than literal and defeatist. Here, I'll add my own verse to the end to wrap it up properly.

I've been in it and through it and back out again
I have swallowed the sun, been washed clean in the pain
From this high cliff it's all smaller but it still looks the same
I'm gonna take a flying leap and ride the waterfall back down

I've got ashes to gather, I've got rose-buds to spread
I've got to give a stern lecture to the voices in my head

I've made war on the past, I've made peace with a ghost

And twenty-eight years later, I'll recover what it cost

And now, for something completely different!

Me at age 8 or 9-ish.

Approximately 20 years later
(or 10 minutes ago, depending on your perspective)

Please note the lack of focus in that second photo is intentional. Unvarnished, unadorned, and unashamed... but still not willing to put it all in glorious hi-resolution detail.

Besides, nobody else needs to count the freckles. Let's just say I have about 100 per birthday and leave it at that, mmkay?

Oh, also? Please note that the hair in the first photo was UN-intentional, and I can only plead 1987. Really. Plus, Mom cut my hair until I was in college, so I can hardly be blamed for my childhood ignorance of styling products or fancy-schmancy "sideways" parts.

Wait, is it just me? Or has my nose gotten much, MUCH bigger in the last 20 years?

So, um... Happy Birthday to me! I will now celebrate by putting on a bra before the alarm system repair guy arrives. Huzzah!