It’s that time of year again–time for my yearly gratuitous, send me some b’day love post.

Yes, tomorrow I will turn the big 3-5.

On the one hand, you’re only as old as you feel and I keep trying to remind myself that it’s really nothing more than just a different option on the machines at the Y. On the other hand, I can’t help but think–man, 35…that’s old!

Anyway, I will be celebrating this evening with family and tomorrow with 20,000 of my closest friends clad in Big Orange. Some people have the yearly ritual of a spank for every year. A couple of years ago, I decided to challenge myself and swim a full lap for every year old I was. And to try and do them all without stopping to rest in between. Because I won’t be able to get near a pool tomorrow, I’ve done that today and I’ve just got to say–back when I started doing this when I turned 28, it was a lot easier.

But, I keep reminding myself that I’m blessed to be healthy and able to do that many laps and to enjoy it. Of course, the real treat comes this evening when I am going to enjoy a great dinner at Maggiano’s with the family. That’s where the real payoff for the laps will come.

So, shamelessly, I now open the comments to all of you. I know, I know, I’m begging for the birthday love. But ya know, it is my birthday…

Five years ago today, my family changed forever.

I was sitting at my desk at work when I got a call from my sister.

“The baby is on the way,” she said, calmly. She and my brother-in-law were headed home to grab all the baby-stuff and then heading over to Knoxville. They were adopting a baby girl and the birth-mother had gone into labor.

I recall my sister saying, “We’re going to have a baby,” with a tinge of excitment and joy in her voice.

She told me they’d call me with updates and when they got closer. And that they wanted me to come and keep them company in the waiting area of the hospital. I was honored and said I’d see them in a few hours. I also asked for calls to update me on the progress of things.

I got a call an hour or so later. Things were taking a bit longer than expected, so I didn’t have to hurry. Go home, eat dinner, swim some laps and then meet them at the hospital. It could be some time before my niece arrived.

I swam but honestly, my heart wasn’t in it. I kept wondering if I was missing something important…what if my neice came right then, in the middle of a lap and I missed the call?

I did have to go home and grab the digital camera. An uncle has to be prepared, right?

Luckily that didn’t happen. I arrived at the hospital to find a waiting room full of family and friends. We sat together, passing the time, talking and catching up, listening as if we could somehow hear the baby’s first cries. After a few hours, a nurse came down and took my sister and brother-in-law up to a room. The baby had arrived, everything was fine and they wanted to give them some time to meet her. They were escorted away and we were all left to wait. It was late, but I don’t think sleep was on anyone’s mind.

After about an hour, the nurse came down again and said they were ready for the family to come up and see the baby. I took a deep breath (I am not a fan of hospitals, but surprisingly this visit wasn’t bugging me….) and we went up to a room. The door opened and I walked in…and saw my sister holding a baby.

I took a mental picture of that moment. There was my sister, my baby sister, holding a baby. You could see the instant bonding of mother and child happening and I thought, “Wow, my baby sister has a baby…” I looked over at my brother in law and saw the same sense of wonder, awe and instant love as he looked at this tiny person who would radically and forever change their lives…and the live of our entire family.

I stayed about an hour with them. I took tons of pictures of my neice’s first hours of life. I wanted to hold her but I didn’t want to intrude on my sister and brother-in-law’s first few hours with G. After a while, the adrenaline wore off and I felt sleepiness settling in. I excused myself, went home and crashed…

The next day, I woke up at my regular time (stupid internal alarm clock!). I went into work for a half-day, most of it spent uploading pictures of my neice to my Yahoo! photos account to send to family and friends. I went back that afternoon to see everyone and got to hold my neice for the first time . She was so quiet and so tiny…but the second I held her, it was too late. I was wrapped around her little finger…I’d do literally anything for her.

That was five years ago. I can’t believe that G is turning five years old today. It seems like just yesterday, I was meeting her for the first time and I’ve turned around twice and now she’s five. I blink twice and she’ll be driving if I’m not careful.

So, happy birthday to my neice, G. Thank you for making me an uncle (again…I am Uncle Michael to my best friend’s children…which is an absolute honor).

It really doesn’t seem like it’s been a year since my last birthday, but I guess it has. I will take credit for being another year older. As for another year wiser, I am going to wait and see.

Today, I officially turn 34. I’m officially in my mid-30’s now.

But, then again, age is only a number. You’re only as old as you feel, they say (who this “they” is I’m not quite sure). Some days (esp. those after I’ve pushed myself in spin class…something I’ve done all week so I can enjoy birthday cake guilt free tonight), I feel a bit older. Most days, I have a hard time believing I’m really past 30.

Looking back, I had a good run at 33. Some ups, some downs and a lot of pleasant time in the valleys between the peaks.

So, here’s looking forward to 34 and seeing what will unfold.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a birthday post if I didn’t shamlessly fish for happy birthday wishes in the comments. (Too needy and obvious? Yes, but hey–it’s my birthday!)

When I heard the weather forecast calling for cold days and even colder nights, my first thought was–this is great soup or chili weather.

So, over the weekend I whipped up a CrockPot of alphabet vegetable soup (the hardest part of it is finding the alphabet noodles…thank heavens for Publix!). That was Sunday.

I’m still eating the soup today. It will be my fifth dinner of alphabet vegetable soup this evening. And there’s still quite a good bit of it to go.

This, my friends, is one of the perils of living the single life. If you follow most recipes and are just cooking for yourself, you’d better really be in the mood for whatever you’re cooking. Either than or have plenty of Tupperware and freezer space for the leftovers. Or both.

Don’t get me wrong–I love leftovers. They are divine and I love a good, homecooked meal that you can easily and quickly heat-up after a long day at the office. (On a side note, what did we do before microwaves?). But there are times you get into the later stages of the leftovers where it’s just not quite as exciting as it was on the first day.

I still have enough left for a couple of good bowls. I am definitely going to have to freeze whatever is uneaten after dinner tonight because tomorrow is my birthday and my mom is making her homemade lasagana. So, I’ll be with the family, dining on lasagana, celebrating my birthday tomorrow evening.

Which means only one thing–tomorrow I will post my yearly, obligatory, “Hey, it’s my birthday, show me some love in the comments” post. I’m just warning all of you in advance so you can have the birthday hilarity and wishes ready to go.