Birthday recap.

So yesterday, February 13th at 1:20 am, I completed my 23rd year of life and began my 24th. In other words, yesterday was my birthday.

It started out a really great day: I slept in 'til around 10 am, got cleaned up and went to meet the Mosers and Mark Cossel at Great American Steakburger for lunch. See it was also Mitch Moser's birthday; he turned 16.

So we had a great time at lunch, eating lots of beef and cobbler for dessert. Let me just say that Great American has some great food, but make sure you check your utensils for cleanliness; we had to exchange 4 or 5 utensil sets because they weren't clean. But the food was definitely worth it, I thought.

Anyway, it was great and as I drove home I was thinking about how blessed I was to know the Mosers and to have such incredible people like them in my life. I felt so happy and relaxed and ready to go home and relax and watch a movie.

It's amazing how quickly a good day can turn into a not-so-good day.

I got home and found that rather than being able to relax, I found that my mom was having one of her students over so I had to either hole myself up in my bedroom or in the garage, or leave. Needless to say I was extremely frustrated that on my only day off (which also happened to be my birthday), my mom had been so inconsiderate as to do that.

I was angry. REALLY angry. And frustrated. And I felt very disrespected because I have asked my mom over and over to not have people over on Friday so that I can rest. Usually she has people over literally everyday except Friday and it can get pretty stressful not knowing who will be at your house and hardly ever being able to relax in your own home.
So I was upset, and I left to run some errands like going to gas up my CRV and stuff like that - just so I could be away and not say or do something unwise. After awhile I returned home and when the student left, I was able to start watching that movie I had rented.

My parents and I had made arrangements to go have dinner around 6 pm, and so I freshened up and got ready to go, and I thought that I should tell my mom that I had been frustrated with her. She told me she was sorry but she had to do it. I told her she didn't; she could have said "no, it's my son's birthday and we'll have to do it later" or something but she didn't. She got frustrated back and started talking about how she has to do these things to pay the bills. Now I know that since my dad is out of work, my mom has to do odd jobs to bring in some income, but all I wanted was a little consideration. She left to her room go get ready to go, but she was pretty upset.

Crap. Even though I felt like I had been wronged, I realized that perhaps I was being somewhat selfish and when she came out, I apologized and just told her that I was frustrated at this whole situation we've been in since last summer. I can't tell you how stressful and frustrating it's been and I think sometimes our individual frustrations just collide like that.

So we went to Cattle Baron and had a great meal and enjoyed each others' company quite a bit. For some reason we spent lots of time talking about my grandpa Martinez's last days and the funeral and all that, but it wasn't morbid; it was sweet.

When we got home, I brushed my teeth then went out to the Pryor's ranch to hang out with them a bit, and I ended up staying there 'til just past midnight. It was so nice! I didn't expect them to, but they had gotten me a cake and ice cream and like a dozen small, very random gifts like a box of cereal, candies, playing cards, and lots of gum. We talked and laughed and took pictures and ended the night with everyone watching Sarah and Candi have some newborn bunnies feed on the mother bunny.

I never, in all my days, ever would have expected to see a bunny get milked, but I suppose there's a first time for everything, right? =)

So in the end, I had a pretty great birthday. Thanks to everyone who texted me and called me to wish me a happy birthday and to the Mosers and Pryors for letting me share my birthday with them. It's so great to have family like them.