It’s true. Gena and I both had a birthday this past week. Gena’s fell on the 17th, and then mine followed three days later.

Not to complain, BUT…. well… Gena and I have many of the same friends. Well, shoot, being that we’re family we share many people (Gena is my mother-in-law). So, the fact that her birthday falls less than a week before mine, well, it’s a little overshadowing.

Every year for the past 12 years three damn days before my birthday Gena has a party. Gena has a party and invites all the friends we share (okay, I only have three and she has about 300), plus all the family we share. And then three damn days later the same damn people show up for my party… which, because I only know three people, is never as big and is never quite as festive. The only silver lining on this cloud is that since Gena is 25 years my senior, my only hope is that nature takes her course and she drops dead first so that I finally can enjoy my birthday month all by myself.

(the absolute WORST was the year we combined our birthday parties — at the time I had no friends and so it was me and all 500 hundred of Gena’s friends. I practically fell asleep waiting for Gena to finish opening her presents so that I could open my singular card — which, ironically, was from Gena.)

Sigh.

Well, now that my rant is over, for my birthday I went over to Yachats and stayed at my very good and very generous friend’s house… it’s a wonderful house they bought a little over a year ago that they rent out.

Now some people might think this strange, but I went over by myself. It was AMAZING. I took myself out to this romantic little dinner at Yuzen, a fantastic japanese restaurant just North of Waldport in Seal Rock (I couldn’t find a site for them, but I did find this site that has pictures…). I have a couple friends who were repelled by the idea of eating dinner by themselves out… but I love it. When I dine alone, I usually spend at least 30 minutes looking at every item on the menu. And then I have an inner dialogue about the five or so that sound really good:

Me: should I have the spicy tuna or the tekka?
Me: You should have both!
Me: Both, that’s crazy!
Me: Come on, it’s your birthday tomorrow, get the spider roll too! And get some tempura for a starter! Oh and some miso soup, yum!

After I was full of green tea and great sushi, I stumbled out of the restaurant and made my way back to Yachats to the house. It was about an hour before sunset and it was low tide, clear, no wind, and about 65 degrees. I went for a beautiful walk on the beach and then settled myself down and watched a movie. It was great.

Well, there you go. My advice: always do what you want for your birthday. You only get one day a year… even though, I am considering also celebrating my half-birthday….