My hubby's 32nd birthday is tomorrow. I am still in denial that we are in our 30's. I don't know when that happened. I always tell him he's an old man. Of course, I don't really think that but in my head we are both still teenagers and so to the teenage girl in my head, he really is an old man.
This will be the 15th birthday we've celebrated together, except for 19. On his 18th birthday we went out to eat at Wendy's on Main Street in Millville and he was talking excitedly about going to Phila to a BT concert that night and how he was going to get his grey WaWa apron that weekend and was going to learn to slice lunch meat. He was finally an adult- he could buy cigarettes, lottery tickets and dirty magazines. He could vote. He could join the military. He was entering a whole new world.
His 19th birthday is the only one we didn't get to spend together. He was away in training in the ARMY then. I was watching TV that evening and the phone rang. My mother answered it and came into the living room. I can see her now, standing in the doorway with a smile on her face as told me he was on the phone. There was such a sense of relief and I leaned against the kitchen wall and played with the phone cord as he told me about training and life at Fort Jackson and about how life would be different when he came home the following month and how he wanted to marry me. My heart skipped a beat. His voice sounded so strange to me, I hadn't heard it in 2 months. It was a short call, they only allowed a few minutes. I wished him a happy birthday and hung up the phone. I was euphoric in the days that followed that birthday phone call. The sound of his voice sustained me and was a ray of sunshine in the grey world that had become my existence in his absence.
We spent his 20th birthday in Oklahoma. We were newlyweds and we went out for every meal that day and I begrudgingly went to watch Harry Potter with him. I was happy and we were together.
We were in New Jersey for his 21st birthday and his cousin took him out to show him a good time. I worked the 3rd shift at WaWa that night and the two of them came in to get sandwiches when the bar closed. My husband stumbled in drunk, like one should be on their 21st birthday. He came to the counter and kissed me. "I was drinking some crazy chicken." His cousin laughed, 'He means, Wild Turkey." I still tease him about that.
I found out I was pregnant just a few days after that. I also don't remember anymore birthdays. I remember 30 for him, but none of them in between. After the kids came, life was a blur. We probably went out to dinner and I'm sure I purchased him necessities instead of fun things. Underwear and new socks and a beard trimmer. After 21, he wasn't a kid anymore. He was a man. We purchased our first home, he started working for the Department of Defense that year, he became a father. Our days of spontaneity and carefree days were over.
I will probably forget 32. He'll go to work. He wanted to go to dinner at China Buffet. I don't think he really wants to go to China Buffet, but he knows that the girls LOVE China Buffet so I am pretty sure he picked it so they would be happy. He is so hard to shop for because he just buys what he wants so I got him some craft brew refill kit because he brews at home. Welcome to 32 - go to work, here's some Chinese food - make yourself some beer. Poor guy, we do the best that we can.
He might be an old man, but inside there is still the boy who was excited to get his grey apron. I hope I still feel that way when we are 80 and pooping our pants together. That birthday is going to be HOT. I'm going to put on something sensual for that birthday.
I am a good wife, and I figured I'd give him something to look forward to. I mean, 80 will be here before we know it. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment