Thank you, friends, for your kind wishes on my birthday. As the first day of being “the perfect age,” it was quite nice!
It poured rain much of the day, so we nixed any plans to go out and about and opted to stay at home instead.
Brian made a delicious dinner of meatloaf and mashed potatoes; and, of course, there was cake (chocolate, naturally!).
As for presents, I was spoiled. I’d already gotten my “main” gift about a week hence—a new blender. But Brian and the boys also gave me new guitar strings (and a special little tool to be used when stringing—Brian strung the guitar for me, too, so that was nice); Captivating, a book by John and Stasi Eldredge; and two games (one a board game called Blokus, one a card game called Set). My mom sent me a little package that had a book in it—a collection of columns from old issues of Victoria magazine (my favorite!). And earlier in the week, a dear friend sent a copy of Evelyn Waugh’s novel Brideshead Revisited.
We spent the day hanging out together as a family, playing games, and watching the Summer Olympics on TV. I played my guitar a little—I still have the booklet we used in 7th grade music class, with many of the chords and several songs (I’ll never forget “Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley!”).
Brian and I played Skip-Bo after the boys went to bed, and then I got some reading done.
It was an ideal day! 
