At 21, I will be an adult.
At 20, I am a nobody...
But as my mom was so kind to point out, nobody's perfect! :)
I hope to live up to the expectations of perfection that now rest so heavily upon my shoulders...but that's an awfully tall order. ;)
My birthday gets better and better each year. This year, I couldn't have been happier!
It all began at midnight when I got a text from Phil wishing me the first of many "Happy Birthdays!"
I woke up to my alarm and hopped in the shower. When I got out, I noticed the light was on in my room. I look into the vanity mirror and see what I'm pretty sure is a Taylor and a Hilary sitting on the beds (I didn't have my contacts in - but I could make out a blonde and a red-headed blob!). Then suddenly I hear a spectacular rendition of "Happy Birthday!" floating my way. I broke out into smiles. They had gotten up extra early and made me a pancake and egg breakfast that was so delish! No one has ever done that for me before! It meant a lot. :)
When Michelle and Shanna heard Tay and Hil singing, they groggily filed into my room with squinty eyes, and sang another beautiful rendition of "Happy Birthday!" to me. We couldn't help but laugh together.
We wandered downstairs together and I scarffed my yummy breakfast because I had an early work meeting that morning. As I got to work, I stood and talked to Christy and Holly as I punched in. A big "Happy Birthday!" flashed up on the screen. Oh! That was a nice surprise! Holly and Christy looked at the screen then looked at me, and in unison chimed in with a "Happy Birthday!"
Christy then informs me that for various reasons I would be job shadowed by McKell from Housing Facilities that day. Okay.
After the first stretch of work, I sat patiently in Pyschology while waiting for Taylor to show up. It was then that I got a text informing me that she would not be making it to class that day...she was a little busy saving the apartment from burning down. Uh yep! After getting up so terribly early, Tay went back to bed, only to be awoken by the smoke detector going off. She ran to the kitchen and looked on the burner to find Shanna's bottle of honey melting away in a pot of boiling water. Shanna was trying to melt her honey to make herself a sandwich and apparently forgot about it...which is proven by the fact that she hopped into the shower. Oh Shanna. :) How boring our roommate life would be without her.
Then Bill called me in between classes and work to wish me a "Happy Birthday!"
Back at work I was followed around by McKell, who watched me as I cleaned. She took notes all the while as to how we custiodians clean at VVT. I'm sure it was a very epic experience for her to watch me wipe down toilets and mirrors. ;) But it was fun to have someone to talk to while I worked.
December 6 also happened to be the day in which my management group was selected to present our Halo Tournament project (which certainly deserves a post of its own). So I wore a Halo T-Shirt for my birthday! It was classy...don't judge.
As I walked across campus, I ran into Angel from my IWA group who yelled, "Happy Birthday!" before I even saw who was standing next to me. :) That made my day. And because of Angel's "Happy Birthday!"-ness, my FHE dad, Papa Parker, heard the news and also wished me a "Happy Birthday!" as I walked into the Library.
That evening I went to the UR Lab to work on a project for my Computers and Arts class. I went to pick up some print-outs that I had made, and the guy sitting at the desk swiped my student ID card. He stared at the card swiper with a confused look on his face. And then something dawned upon him. "Hey, Happy Birthday!" I was confused and realized that my birthday shows up as they swipe my card. Getting told "Happy Birthday!" by a total stranger is a fun experience. :)
Throughout the day I received various texts from my friends and when I got home at the end of the day I had a bunch of love filling my Facebook Page...but this one especially made me laugh:
Shanna Peterson
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESS!! You are now a SCORE! yay!
Mark Jackson
One score and zero years ago, Jessica's parents brought
forth, upon this continent, a new child..... :-)
Oh how I love creative people!
Shanna gave me a Lightning McQueen puzzle and Lightning McQueen coloring board! Can I tell you of the joy that ensued?!? And Michelle gave me the cutest card. It is now hanging on my wall.
Oh! Which reminds me of the fact that the Thursday(?) before my Monday birthday, Taylor was so kind as to go out and buy pizza for a mini birthday party! She made me lemon cupcakes! And she gave me Hershey's MINT chocolates, caramel kisses, and Silly Puddy. What a keeper. I love her. I invited Bill over and everyone sat and conversed in the kitchen for quite a while. We then finished that evening by coloring Christmas pictures with crayons that would later be hung on our front door for decorations. Good times!
And on the weekend, I had the chance to celebrate my birthday with my family. It was lovely! I opened presents which I absolutely loved...including a pretty blue camera named Tilly! (Thank you madre!!!!) and a present from Bill, which included a mini-hymn book, socks, and a nativity set that his dad made (it may be Christmas all year round...I don't want to take it down). Followed up with ice cream - which beats cake out any day. ;)
Anyway...Side-tracted!
Back to that evening: We went to Family Home Evening and had an excellent lesson about Moroni's Title of Liberty. This FHE was supposedly our last together for the year, so we decided to finish it out strong by making individual apartment banners that we are to use as our own Title of Liberty. When all was said and done, my FHE sister, Marrie, told our FHE mom, Liz, that it was my birthday. So once again, I got a WONDERFUL renditon of "Happy Birthday!" sung to my ears. :)
And at some point in the night I stopped by Bill's place for a few minutes and he gave me a birthday hug and kiss. It is most decided, that I like birthdays.
Sometimes I just want to shout to the world how much I love LIFE and tell people how happy they make me! It was a birthday party that seemed to have lasted all weekend long. It was such a positive high. I just want to tell everyone thank you over and over again for making my birthday extra special! So here's to all of you:
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, THANK YOU.
