Birthday of a Butterfly

If I could choose just one word to describe my birthday it would be ENERGIZER - yes as in the pink bunny with the drum set strapped to its back!!!! From the stroke of midnight on March 3 until this moment, I've been going and going and going and.....well you get the point.
I'd probably have another novel on my hands if I tried to recap EVERYTHING - drama and all. However, there are definitely somethings worth posting on this blog (and I won't incriminate myself in the process....hahahahahha)

Stroke of midnight
Since my birthday fell on a Wednesday I made no plans. I already had a jam packed weekend planned and I didn't want to tack on another event for my friends to feel obligated to attend. However, sometime after midnight I found myself at a ghey karaoke bar belting out Single Ladies in my best tipsy Beyonce impersonation with my friends cheering me on in the audience. Yeah scratch the needle across the record. You read correctly: ghey karaoke bar. Lemme explain. Tuesday night, I went to a farewell dinner for someone I know through a committee I work with. While there, my friends sent a text for me to join them at a restaurant/bar uptown. I hopped in a cab after the lonnnnng dinner (and upteen glasses of wine). Once at the new location, one of the guys with us is ghey and recommended the karaoke spot so we shuffled into another cab to check it out. And we had a blast. The drag queen host with the subtle stubble sang to me. And for my encore I sang "You Aint Gotta Call" by Ursher complete with ad libs & monologues. I sang that one from the heart (there are a few people who I could dedicate that one to...hahahaa). Thankfully none of my friends had video cameras because I might be a YouTube sensation by now.

Partay with a Purpose
With the exception of last year, I always ALWAYS have a birthday party. I love getting my friends together for drinks and dancing and more drinks and more dancing sprinkled with a little debauchery for good measure. Lord willing, I hope when I am 95 at Shady Pines, I will still be on the dance floor shaking what my momma gave me. This year, while I still wanted to get my party on, I wanted to do something a little more.

A very close friend of mine has a nephew who has an inoperable brain tumor. Thankfully, he is responding well to treatment but I remember when she called to tell me the news. I felt like a vacuum had sucked all the air out of me. So I could only imagine how she and her family felt. He's only 11 and shit like that is not supposed to happen to an 11 year old. For a while I kept thinking, I wish there was something I could do. I'm not a surgeon so I couldn't help that way. One evening at home, while sipping on one of my latest favorite glasses of wine, it came to me. What if I could raise money to send my friend's nephew and his mom/her sister on the family vacation this year? I figured I could at least try to raise money to give them something fun to do this year. So instead of having a birthday party and then turning around to throw a fundraiser, I decided to combine the two. With the help of friends and the most gracious party promoters (who I also call friends) by the end of the night I raised over $300 with money still coming in my birthday cards (still have a ways to go but that's a great start - I had no expectations). Also with the help of said friends and party promoters, I was beyond tipsy by the end of the night. Allegedly, the things I said were LEGENDARY. And no, I will not incriminate myself by repeating alleged quotes on this here blog.

Bottomless Brunch.
This too has become a birthday ritual for me. With my favorite brunch spot being closed for damn near a year now (how could you do this to me?) I needed to find a location to accomodate about 20 friends AND provide unlimited brunch elixirs. Thank the Lord for Google because I found this location and made arrangements to scout the location in a day. As you can tell from the website, I was quite impressed with what I saw.

For some reason I got the bright idea to have BOTH birthday events back to back - party Saturday, brunch Sunday afternoon. What the hell was I thinking??!!! Thankfully, my friends love me and the weather was gorgeous because we all made it there at a reasonable time. My Guy Guru, Rashad and his lady came all the way from DC just to attend my birthday brunch (okay that's a lie - they really came up for a jazz concert the night before but it sounds so much better when I say they came up here for me, don't you think??). And I must give a special shout out to Rashad. He was only one of 3 guys in attendance and he endured about 30 minutes of CC, DD, and PP (cock convo, dick dialogue, and penis prose - hows that for alliteration....hahahahahahaa). And that's when I asked the manager to turn on the Lakers game in our private alcove - he and the other guys more than deserved it. I was surrounded by old friends, new friends, friends I saw a few hours earlier, friends I haven't seen in almost a year. Friends from many different points in my life. And I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

When I blew out the candle on my red velvet cupcake, I made a wish that the love and joy I feel on my birthday never fades and that it carries me through whatever life brings my way. There is nothing like the warmth you feel from the love of your friends. And I get to feel it for at least the next month as the birthday celebrations continue with a couple of dinners and a concert. I'm going to need to recharge this Energizer bunny when its all said and done.


PS There will be another birthday post, documenting the fashion of the weekend - talk about drama. Guys, you've been warned. LOL

-- Sent from my Palm Prē