Du du du du du du... you say it's your birthday...

Duke girl
Originally uploaded by Jaimemjfan.

Happy birthday to YOU
Happy birthday to ME
Happy birthday dear Uhhh-US
Happy birthday dear US.

Happy birthday, Tonya!!
It seemed such a strange coincidence that Tonya and I share the same birthday. We met around this time last year and have been great friends ever since!

Uh... On this day 10 years ago I was:
-Getting a tattoo for my 19th birthday
-Living with 4 (5 if you count Vey-u) guys
-Having a raging birthday party in which I took 19 shots of Dr. McGillicuddy's

It was a happy time and yet I look back and get a shiver up my spine. What a strange, strange trip that was. I remember the day - that year - like it was yesterday. I woke up that morning and Ryan gave me the D.J. Kool C.D. that I had been wanting for my birthday. (I'm embarassed to admit that now). Of course I only wanted it for one song - "Let me clear my throat" - but back in the day there were no downloads, maybe no CD singles. Then he and I headed up to Rumford to a sketchy little tattoo parlor to get the tattoo that I had drawn out on a piece of paper using a bottle cap and a Nike swoosh at work. From there we headed back to the apartment for "the party". We called this the eviction party and it held pretty close to true. I'd say close to 70 people showed up to our big apartment on Gamage Ave. I got 5 cakes that year. My boss, my mom, my sister and Shawn all made me cakes. Jennie bought me one from McDonald's. Around 8:00 everyone packed into the kitchen to watch me drink the night away. Shawn, my boyfriend, was supposed to "take care of" me that night. Ryan, my best friend, was angry and refused to have anything to do with my little rendezvous with "the Dr.". Of course this is the end of my story since I have no recollection of anything that happened after the minute and 37 seconds that it took me to swallow my assembly line of shots.

Who the heck was I then? Or who am I now? Do timelines and milestones tend to make anyone else look back the way I do? Back then I wore baggy t-shirts and listened to rap music. I played pick-up ball with the boys. I obsessed over Michael Jordan. I ran almost every day and kept a basketball, field hockey ball, soccer ball in my trunk "just in case" a game might break out. I think my husband and I have switched places over the years. It's just as well... I'm much happier with the me I am today. I'll still show Rylee the scrapbook pages of her young and crazy mom ... but as far as breaking out the D.J. Kool - I'll think I'll pass. I'll stick with my BNL and my Sarah McLachlan. :)