Turning 30, for "real" this time!

My birthday was, in a word, amazing. I had been sort of smarting all year long at what a dud my 30^th birthday had been. Not to dwell, but it wasn’t exactly the celebration that I think “aught” birthdays should have. Certainly there were extenuating circumstances (like Mechen’s deployment) but either way, I told Mechen that this year, I was turning 30 again. And oh man, did he ever come through!

The morning was pretty relaxed. He headed out and when he came back, he gave me a card. I opened it and voila! A spa gift certificate. He said I had an appointment in about 40 minutes that I could either keep or cancel. I decided I was in the mood and also, he said he needed the time to work on things.

I went and had a great massage at Sante in Solana Beach. I sat in the steam room until I physically had to leave. Then, I sat in the waterfall room until my massage, which was really, really good. Then I had a quick sauna, shower and went home.

The house smelled amazing. At first, I thought it was a puff pastry baked Brie, but then I figured out that maybe it was a cake (more later)? Mechen said we were going out to dinner so I got ready and off we went to San Diego for a dinner at Starlite, my favorite restaurant.

When we walked in, the host asked if we had a reservation and I said, “I think he does,” and Mechen gave his name. The host said, “Oh, MECHEN,” and led us to a corner table where there was the most amazing, gorgeous, huge bouquet of flowers I’ve ever seen. It was perfect and awesome and I was totally blown away. I couldn’t stop smiling and the guys near us on their own dates probably couldn’t stop thinking, “You SOB” to Mechen.

After dinner, which was delicious (at this point, it’s slightly hazy but I had a really delicious fish prepared in a Moroccan fashion, Mechen had a great steak and we split a lamb bruschetta), we went back home where Mechen had made my favorite cake- yellow with chocolate frosting. Yum-o!
I felt so amazing and special on my birthday. It was perfect. Most of all, I felt so, so lucky to have Mechen in my life. It was incredible.