Today, July 24, is my birthday!
I am a “birthday person.” I look forward to my birthday all year. I plan in advance what I’m going to eat, wear, and do! But this year is a little different: no grand plans, no social events. So I decided it would be interesting to go back over my last 10 years of birthdays– with the help of my journals– to remember what I did in the past.
July 24, 2010: I had bagels for breakfast and went to the gym for my (then-favorite) dance class and got a free birthday water! Then my parents and sister (she was still living in NY then) came to my house for lunch and took me to the Danbury mall. (Nick had a gig, but we’d gone to Stockbridge, MA the day before to celebrate.) Back then, I loved to shop, and I bought a lot of clothes over the two days. We got sushi and had chocolate cake for dinner and Nick gave me John Mayer tickets. (I was obsessed with the song “Say” at the time.)
July 24, 2011: Jet-lagged and didn’t do much. Nick and I flew home from Vancouver the night before, after a 2-week Alaskan vacation, including a cruise. It’s the biggest (and best) trip we’ve taken together. I came home so invigorated by the extraordinary beauty of Alaska, healthier eating, and the promise of more special trips in the future… but not for a few years, because this was about the time we decided to start trying for a baby.
July 24, 2012: 8 months pregnant with our first child! We went to Lancaster, PA and stayed at our favorite Amish-run resort. It was unbearably hot that day, and I didn’t last very long at our favorite farmer’s market. I spent a lot of time in the hotel pool, feeling gratefully cool and weightless. We ate at Miller’s Smorgasbord, where my pregnant self enjoyed two desserts without guilt.
July 24, 2013: At Lancaster again (a birthday week favorite) but this time with our baby boy! He didn’t sleep well the night before, but he did sleep late. I remember nursing him (undercover) at the restaurant. My parents came with us and watched Edwin while Nick and I had some date time. They also embarrassed me by having the hotel put “Happy Birthday Leanne” on the hotel sign.
July 24, 2014: Shopping on my birthday seems to be a theme. We were home this year (although the day before I met my friend Cristen in the city to see Idina Menzel in If/Then– a great memory) so my parents watched Edwin while I went to the mall and treated myself at Sephora, then met Nick at Shadows on the Hudson (our prettiest summer bar/restaurant) and had drinks before dinner with my parents.
July 24, 2015: Nick took me to a winery run by his old friend, and we did a tasting, drank wine on the porch, and had a cheese/cracker/cured meat snack. The weather was beautiful, and this was a particularly great birthday treat!
July 24, 2016: Woke up in NYC! Nick and I went for one night as a combined birthday/babymoon (I was 7 months pregnant with Eleanor). It was HOT and the walking was tough on my third-trimester body, but we had a great time seeing the Count Basie Orchestra at Birdland the night before and brunching at Aristinal that morning before picking up a birthday cake from Magnolia Bakery and taking the train back for swim time at my in-laws’ house with Edwin.
July 24, 2017: Stayed home because it rained. Ate a lot of comfort food– Nick had become an excellent cook by this time. It was a memorable day because it was the first time Edwin saw Star Wars (I started with New Hope, obviously). We watched it together while it poured outside!
July 24, 2018: Dropped both kids at daycare and went to the new salt cave in town, then got a pedicure and had lunch out with Nick. I got a great surprise later in the day– my sister flew in from California a day early!
July 24, 2019: We were at Schroon Lake for the week staying with my in-laws, but my parents came up for a couple of nights. We met them in Lake George the night before and they came to spend the day on my birthday. We went swimming off the new pontoon boat and had clam sauce and pistachio cake. It was great to be with my combined families.
Today, July 24, 2020: At Schroon Lake again. My parents can’t visit because of COVID, and I’m feeling sad about that. I have plans with them for a special birthday dinner next week though (on our driveway, for social distancing). Today, I’m hoping for some sun (forecast looks good), swim time, tubing off the boat, and ice cream.
Hopes for my next birthday
Next year will be my 40th. I hope the world looks very, very different by then. I hope we have a new president. I hope we feel safe going out in public again. I hope school has been re-invented in the most positive ways while still retaining the community and arts focus that my students need. I hope my band program is bigger than ever, and that my writing reaches a bigger audience.
When I’m 40, I hope I’ve spent the year becoming stronger, more resilient, and more grateful throughout the world’s crises. I hope I am a calmer mother, a more giving spouse, an enthusiastic community member, a productive creator, a social justice warrior. Most of all, I hope I am lucky enough to still have a whole, happy, healthy family.
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