The Quarter-Century Mark

Today was the official birthday. It was pretty anticlimactic since I'd already celebrated it with my friends on Thursday and JP on Saturday. I actually forgot it was today until I checked my email about an hour after Landon woke me up (no, he did not let me sleep in) and saw an inbox full of "Happy Birthday" messages on my Facebook Wall. It took me a second to figure out why so many people would be writing me when I hadn't updated my profile recently.

And I'm glad we celebrated early because today ranks pretty low on the birthday hit list. I started coughing last night and woke up with a swollen throat- I can't even complain much about it, I should have gotten sick weeks ago. Landon also coughed last night, woke up much earlier than we'd hoped, and was so fussy and stuffy this morning that I called the pediatrician and begged to be worked in. We got a 1:20 appointment- smack in the middle of the day, guaranteeing I wouldn't get any work done. I dropped Landon off at Maya's once his stuffiness calmed down (or, more accurately, drained all over his first outfit). I felt bad doing it because he was sick, but I needed thirty minutes to get my fingerprinting done for the Bar Exam. If I didn't get it in the mail today my application would be rejected. After the finger printing (not nearly as stressful as the last time I was in a police station), I scrubbed my already dry and damaged hands for fifteen minutes to get the ink off, ran to Subway, inhaled a sandwich, and rode the bus to pick up Landon. We saw the pediatrician for the millionth time this month and left her office with a diagnosis of a cold virus and some medicine to help with his congestion.

For the next six hours after we got home Landon expressed his general unhappiness with the world, resisted the nap he so desperately needed, and refused to let his mom talk to the nice people calling her on the phone to sing Happy Birthday. I spent the six hours eating a pound of Robin's Egg Easter Whoppers, trying to quietly entertain Landon while on the phone, and sending polite instant messages to JP asking him to COME HOME NOW BECAUSE IT'S MY BIRTHDAY AND I DON'T FEEL GOOD AND LANDON WON'T GO TO SLEEP AND I'M SO TIRED AND YOU MUST DO SOMETHING. He came home, bearing pizza, at 7:30.

It's now 10 and I'm going to bed despite not having done any school work since last Thursday. I'm so behind in my reading that I'm starting to have nightmares about it. School doesn't stress me out much anymore, but I realized today, when I heard my voice sounding shrill during a phone call with JP, that I am stressed. My first final is two weeks from tomorrow. The quarter system sucks.

So I really did have a wonderful 25th birthday, it just wasn't today.