Happy Birthday to Me

Today is my 21st Birthday!!!

My roommates surprised me at midnight with a cake, gifts, and a champagne toast. It was really sweet of them.

All evening I was working on homework at the dinner table with Jolana and Nimatu (2 of my roomates). Bobby, Jolana's boyfriend, was making dinner for us. I noticed a few times some strange behavior in the kitchen, one person being really loud or distracting while the others talked quietly. I was a bit suspicious but wrote myself off as being paranoid and continued my homework.

I decided around 9:30 that I wanted to go out to a bar at midnight for my first drink. I didn't want to stay out late because of early morning classes that I needed to attend. All of my roommates and Bobby decided to come.

I was ready to leave the apartment at 11:45 when my other roommate Sara got home from work - no one else seemed excited or ready to go. I didn't realize that they were stalling, I just thought they were being "laid back" northern Californians. At 11:57 I tried desperately to get them motivated to move it! They suggested that we just hang out a the apartment for a few minutes so I could legally turn 21 at the apartment. I went along with it because I am a "laid back" Kansan.

I sat down on the couch and didn't even notice that everyone else had migrated to the kitchen. Soon after a flaming pastry was headed towards me, they had made me a surprise birthday cake! I was so shocked! I didn't know when this had happened so I asked them where they cooked it. Come to find out, they made the cake that evening right in front of me and I didn't even notice. The smell of dinner masked the smell of the cake and my studies distracted me from my surroundings. I was really embarrassed that I had no clue about the cake. It was funny.

I didn't expect my roomies to make a big deal out of my birthday. It was really sweet of them and it made me feel really loved. In a town of new people on a campus full of strangers I haven't felt very "loved" these past few weeks... this really helped me and it couldn't have happened at a better time.

What a great first few hours of being 21!!! And I remember every detail, except for the baking of the cake! =)