29th Birthday
I had an unforgettable 29th birthday. It all started after work on the eve of my actual birthday. I got to hang out with Jessica Hoskinson, Daniel Kosakowski, and Christine Kosakowski. I was way excited to be presented with full birthday regalia. The night was filled with burritos, pizookies, hard cider, cigars, and (of course) great conversation. As an added bonus, I even walked away with two rockin’ books to add to my home library.
July 15th
My actual birthday started with an early morning confession at Saint Anne’s. Afterwards I went to my parent’s house to find that my mom had made me a delicious birthday omelette. Once the omelette was finished I was given my birthday present: a wicked-cool coat rack. I'm way thankful to my dad for making for me.
As I was getting the coat rack into my car I found evidence that my family had been making water balloons: I made a mental note of this and continued about my business. I proceeded to enjoy a little gift to myself: an unopened MTG Throne of Eldraine Booster Box. After few hours of craking packs I was informed that lunch had arrived and I was told to help get it from the car. I had a strong suspicion that this request was merely a pretense for the traditional family water balloon birthday ambush. Instead of going straight to the car I first grabbed my LARPing shield (basically a boogie board with rope straps). My suspicion was correct. As I stepped outside my shield caught the first water balloon of the ambush. It was an epic water balloon battle. In spite of my shield I was completely soaked by the end, as was the rest of my family. After the fight we spent about ten minutes picking up the burst balloons to make sure that nothing ended up in the ocean. A few hours later it was time for dinner. The family and I were joined by my brother-from-another-mother, Myles Rumion. We enjoyed Mongolian BBQ and more excellent conversation. Back at my parent’s place, we had cake and ice cream. My niece Jade Lowrey gave me a truly heartwarming birthday speech. Once the cake and ice cream was eaten, my family and I had fun engaging in free-for-all combat with styrofoam weapons. After much fighting we ended up knighting my nephew Joey “Sir Joey - Knight of the Shield.” I rounded off the night by visiting my brother Eli during his shift at BJ’s Brewhouse. I was so stuffed with food that I could just barely make room for a salad and Berry-Burst cider. Before leaving I played a little prank on my brother: I hid everything from my table in unusual places. I left a big tip and told Eli to find all six things I had hidden. In truth I had only hidden five things. Eli and I shared a good laugh about it later. Thank you to everyone who was there as well as everyone who gave me birthday wishes. I had a better birthday than I could have wished for.
