Birthday Party 3.0 Was a Success!

On Friday, my friend had his birthday party. We went out to a bar, and drank many alcoholic beverages, and I hijacked his party. Not in a mean way, but in a "YAY we get to celebrate 2 birthdays!" kind of way.

I got pretty drunk, on a relatively small amount of alcohol. My friend had about 3 times as much to drink as I had, and he ever so abruptly fell asleep on my lap. I have a bruise on my arm to prove it.

Saturday morning-ish rolls around, and I wake up after a nice solid 8 hours of sleep, have breakfast, and proceed to go back to bed for another 8 hours of sleep. When I woke up, I had breakfast again, and watched a couple movies before heading back to bed once again.

So I missed my niece's birthday party on Saturday, because I was recovering from a lovely hangover, but I'm sure she'll forgive me.

Last night was another early night, with me going to bed at an incredible 9:30. That's really early for me. And I fell asleep almost immediately after laying down, which doesn't happen to me. Ever.

But I did finally have a birthday party, and I got to see one of my really good friends from high school, and introduce him to my hubby, and I met a bunch of his friends, and it was all really fun. The 2 days of recovery were well worth the fun night out.

Birthdays...

Last year for my birthday, I got a spiffy cane.

This year for my birthday, I got a nice relaxing day in bed.

By that I mean; last year I broke down and gave into my pain, and finally started using a cane, even though I should have been using one for a while by that point.

And this year, I was so allergic to everything, I had to take Benadryl so I could breathe and when that kicked in, I was so dizzy, I had to go back to bed, and forego all attempts of a "Birthday Party."

So sunday rolled around, and I tried Birthday Party 2.0, which consisted of going to the Calgary Stampede, on the last day, so I could watch some fireworks. Hubby and I walked around for about 2 hours, then when the fireworks were about to start, we climbed 2 flights of stairs and found a nice place to stand and watch the fireworks. The thing is, even though walking around slowly for 2 hours didn't bother my hip, standing for about 10 minutes caused a lovely dislocation, and I went smashing into the pavement, landing on my knee. Stood up, and sarted the slow, slow trek back to the car... Wishing the entire way that I had brought my cane, even though I didn't need it until I fell.

Oh, and I totally missed the fireworks, and the only game I'm actually any good at, they don't have there anymore.

But, YAY, I made it one more year... I'm a whole 24 years old now... Why do I feel like those numbers should be reversed, and doubled?

What Does Pain Look Like?

Can you see the searing, pulsing flames as they lick slowly across my chest, burning hotter as they reach my shoulder and linger?

Can you see the color of the glass shards as they slowly wear away at the soft tissue of my hip?

Can you see the sharp knives cutting into my ribs, stealing my breath as I walk?

Can you see the waves of pain crashing down upon me, suffocating in their weight, taking all my energy just to keep from drowning?

I can.

They are all reflected in the single tear falling slowly, silently, down my cheek, as I hide my face from you.