"Beauty confronts us with the requirement that we place ourselves among...the redeemers, the leaders in the protection of life. Once you have seen the bush on fire, you are not going to get out of the assignment unless you close your eyes to the beauty.... [You] either have to close your eyes or go back to Egypt and set the people free." - Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker, "Rising to the Challenge of Our Times"

Monday, September 07, 2009

Thanks


Having just a little trouble coming back mentally from happy-birthday-holiday-weekend-land so it's a good time to express gratefulness to my parents for providing me with 1) a birthday, 2) a world-class location in which to have celebrated it sharing the weekend with good friends, and 3) a brand new car!

Just kidding about #3. Ha ha.

I did get a parent-sponsored new fridge for my birthday though, which I very greatly appreciate, as I learned awhile back that fridges are more essential than cars. I already have a vehicle that runs perfectly well but my old fridge was circa 1990--doesn't seem like it should be that long ago, but it is, considering other events that took place that year. The gentlemen that came to pry it out and haul it down the stairs commented that it seemed the kitchen, and perhaps the entire building, had been constructed around it.

You can always decide to bike, walk, bus, or stay home, but there is really no alternative means of keeping ice cream frozen.

Speaking of my truck, my friends washed it for me as a surprise birthday treat (I'm going with that over the 'in pity and disgust' option). Thanks!

Also, Heather cooked the best veggie enchiladas ever and made sure there was cake and reminders every quarter hour on Sunday that it was my birthday. At my age one begins to need prompts, or so she said. Thanks!

5 comments:

Bellabell said...

Emily--I blew my bugle (a real Argyll & Sutherland bugle, found in a tiny antique shop along the Scottish seacoast) to herald your birthday and ward off evil spirits for the coming year.

Have just learned how many of our sweet birthday customs grew out of a nervous tribal hope of keeping such spirits at bay. Having many friends and family around to make noise, sing and blow bugles could, the ancients hoped, scare the spirits off.

Gifts, cards, and spankings-for-luck could call down happy fortune and intercept anything negative thrown your way by the bad guys. Serious negativity prevention always meant bonfires, torches, smudgings and assorted blazes. Today, we flicker in that direction via candles on the cake. And of course, the older we get, the more protection we need, hence the increasing number of candles melting the icing.

Washing the truck is a more recent custom, based in the superstition that evil forces love dirt and dust and are driven away by sparkling chrome and bright (all-seeing eye) windows. New refrigerators on birthdays are, of course, self-explanatory: the evil ones dwell in hellfire, brimstone, and puddles of melted Rocky Road, whereas the Good Guys are cool, live on Heavenly Hash ice cream, and can, in the freezer, render fresh vegetables forever immortal..

As for Heather's vegetarian offering, it is as blessed as Abel's of old.

So, in short, I think you're covered for the year! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GIRLFRIEND!

Alice said...

I'm glad you had a good birthday, I wish I could have come celebrated with you!

Congrats on the new fridge.

(I hope Ripley ejoyed killing that poor defenseless warthog)

George said...

Happy Birthday from your Mama and your Papa. Glad you had a pleasant weekend holiday with friends. Maybe we can see you in a couple weeks for a dinner somewhere near.

hmr said...

It was a fabulous weekend and the food was definitely incomparable! Thanks for sharing your family house and your birthday weekend with us all!

hmr said...

Oh, and I did NOT say that you needed prompts. It was just that every time a new group of people woke up, I loudly wished you happy birthday so that THEY would be prompted. And it worked -- you were never without birthday wishes.