91/365 Another year older

I celebrated my birthday last night with my girlfriends. We originally planned to go to an outdoor movie and dinner picnic at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, but it rained all day Friday (big surprise). So the backup plan was dinner at Bazbeaux Pizza in Broad Ripple.

I couldn't have asked to have a better time. We laughed, shared stories, and vented concerns over an eclectic mix of pizzas. I drove all the way home singing with a smile on my face and thinking about how lucky I am to have these women in my life.

It makes me a little sad to think that some of them will be moving away within the next few months to take the next step in their lives, but I'm much more excited for them -- and proud -- than anything. AND it gives me an excuse to travel and go visit them.

I love having my birthday in June -- it's six months from Christmas and the weather is usually warm (though often stormy). But as a kid, birthdays were always celebrated with a special little party in the classroom, and I always missed out on that. Sure, the teachers and parents would try to group some of the summer birthdays together on a day or two to include them, but it's not the same when it's not REALLY your day. And when you're not in school at the time, not many people actually remembered my birthday.

For my twenty-first birthday, when I was still in college, I tried to get a group of my school friends together to celebrate, but all of them dropped out for one reason or another at the last minute. I had resigned myself to the fact that it would just be the same as every year, but then a few of the girls I'd met in the Princess program remembered, pulled a group of us together, and we went to a comedy club that night.

It was the first real time I'd seen them outside of the program, and I knew after the effort they made that night that I had really met some fantastic women. Every year since then, my birthday -- and everyone else's -- has not been forgotten or overlooked.

It may be a small thing, but it means so much to me.

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD1000 at about 9:30 p.m.