Over Halfway to "Over The Hill"

As you may or may not know, I just turned the big "2-2." That's old.

Overall, my birthday was pretty mediocre. On the positive side, I turned in my thesis. Happy Birthday to me! The negative? I had 4 hours worth of class afterwards and accidentally had the sandals I bought for myself sent to my parent's old address. Ooops.....

My birthdays at Vassar have overall been pretty good. First off, all of my birthdays except for this one have taken place over the weekend, plus, they tend to fall on "parent's weekend," which means my parents take me out for a SUSHI BOAT at Tokyo Express down the street. (Mmmm. Sushi Boat.)

But my 21st birthday--that was another story. Everyone knows the typical 21st birthday saga. 21 shots (otherwise known as suicide), free drinks from friends, cocktail shaker from your brother, you know, the usual. My birthday? I had the stomach flu.

It all started with a turkey sandwich. Now, I'm not sure if it was the sandwich's fault or if the disease had already manifested itself within my system, but by that night I knew my birthday wouldn't be a good one. My parents stopped by the next day for parent's weekend, and at that point I was still in decent health. I hung out, went to some events, and even stayed up pretty late. But by 10 o'clock that evening, I was certain that I wouldn't make it to 21. I had a high fever, but was still getting chills, and I hadn't been able to eat since breakfast. I barely remember Pat seeing that I made it back to my room, and recalling a scene from the blockbuster hit "Titanic," I said, "I'll never let go Pat, I'll never let go...." and promptly laid down in bed, awaiting my death. Okay, so obviously I didn't die, but the next day I made sure to see the school doctor to make sure that my birthday wasn't a total disaster. (It still was.)

That night, my parent's took me to the Alumnae House for my birthday dinner, and everyone, including my 16 year old brother (yeah, that was a mistake), received a drink, except me. There was nothing on the menu that I felt like my stomach could handle except for the fish and chips, and even then I was still taking swigs from a bottle of Pepto-Bismol when the waiter had his back turned. Everyone else at dinner thought it was a riot, but I just wanted to be able to eat my food without feeling like I was seasick.

That night I managed to make it back to the dorm without getting as sick as I had been the night before and decided to attempt heading out to the bar. Figures I would be the Designated Driver at my own 21st birthday party. I ordered a beer and promptly handed it to my friend who had turned 21 the week before, then sipped my seltzer water while sighing about my misfortune. What did I get for my birthday? Well, I may have still had the flu, but at least I was no longer having the hallucinations from the night before.

In retrospect, the experience seems pretty comical, but I definitely preferred this year's birthday despite freaking out about my thesis and attending four hours worth of classes afterwards. My parents got me a class ring (yay!) and Pat is taking me out to dinner Thursday--but most importantly, I'm no longer nursing the pink bottle.