Birthday Plans, Puppies, Paintings and Putting them all in Perspective

I woke up to crying puppies. Crying foster puppies.

Since it was my birthday, Peter got up to feed them, then feed them again. But they didn't want food. They wanted attention.

I let Peter go back to sleep while I played with the foster pups.

That's how I started my 50 plus rotation around the sun. Closer to 60 than 50, I remind myself. Not a bad life, bombarded by yipping, yapping whining puppers, I picked them up for cuddles and kisses. What could be better then a flurry of fur so happy to see you, reminding you that your existence mattered?

Earlier in the week, our daughter had blocked off the day saying, "Whatever you want to do, Mommado" and she meant it. I tried to get us nail appointments but the place I picked had just lost their nail tech. I went on FB and asked for recommendations. I got the number of someone who came highly recommended. "I'm sorry, hon, I'm fully booked," she said, "Is there another day?" Her kind voice encouraged me to say, "I'm not sure when else I could come. It's just that tomorrow's my birthday..." I trailed off, trying to think of an alternative. "OK." she blurted out. "Come at 11." She was going to squeeze me in. I texted Macallan, "She is fully booked but she'll make room for me. Should I take it or should we find somewhere else?" "No, you should take it! Then we can see if she's any good." was her selfless response. Turns out, the manicurist gave up her lunch break in order to get me in for my birthday. And, I have to say, she was excellent! We'll be back!

During the day, Macallan and I had lunch at one of our favorite breakfast spots, Toast; shopped a little; laughed a lot. It was noon before I got a text from my son who lives in NY. I was starting to wonder if he had forgotten. Well-worth the wait. His text brought tears to my eyes. "He just woke up." Macallan confirms reading my mind. Smiling I respond, "I know. I know."

I have always had a thing about my birthday. For years, it went without much fanfare. But in recent years, Peter's stepped up his game. This year, I decided, I'm not going to wait to see what Peter plans I'll make my birth matter...I'll make my birthday a happy one. And with that, I decided we'd celebrate starting on Monday, when we went to 40 Strand.

As we put in our order, I asked for a cocktail but the server said,

"We have two drinks we'd like you to try, on the house." The owner had ordered two cocktails that were not on the menu yet and sent them over. Later, I thanked him and told him how good they were, especially good since they launched my week-long birthday celebrations.

But as the universe would have it, I was reminded all day that life never goes as planned. Making it a good day totally depends on how you react to what transpires.

As we headed home after a day that was made up of "whatever" I wanted, the car stalled in the middle of the road. We let it cool. Mac tried it again. Nope, still wouldn't start. We called Peter, but he wasn't picking up. She called her friend, but he was working and far away without a car to help. Luckily, for the only highway on St. Croix, it wasn't a busy time of day, so as cars did come up on us, we waved them around. Surprisingly, there was no time when I felt we were in danger.

After 10-20 long minutes, Macallan went up to some guys on the road crew and asked if they'd push the car to the side of the road. They were packing up to go but stopped to help us instead. When we offered to tip them, they refused. And one guy even came back to check on us before they drove away.

Because of her broken down car, Macallan had to call out of work and so she was around for dinner. Instead of going for another romantic dinner on my actual birthday, we went to the newly opened restaurant in town. We were all in good spirits. We put the car out of our thoughts for the night.

We went to this new place knowing the service would undoubtedly be erratic, after all they had just opened yesterday. So, even though the waitress forgot our drinks not once, but twice; even though they were out of certain dishes;even though they failed to give us napkins and utensils until well after we got our food; and they took nearly an hour to get us our bill, we laughed and had a good time. We enjoyed each other's company, even joking that the waitress probably spit in our drinks. Ha ha! No matter, it didn't ruin the night.

We returned home, Peter confident that his efforts to get me my requested butter cream frosted cake would make up for the restaurant experience. Peter confessed he had to go to

three bakeries to get butter cream frosting, and was so happy when finally he got it.

Unfortunately, the cake was made with an almond extract, causing Macallan, who is allergic to nuts, to have a reaction. Luckily, she only took a small bite before she realized. She gulped down some 1/2 and 1/2 to try to absorb the allergen and drank a lot of water to dilute the toxin. It was a pretty cake, not butter cream at all and it nearly killed my daughter, but even that didn't ruin my day.

Nor did the fact that due to the broken down car, Peter couldn't get me flowers, the earthquakes in Puerto Rico delayed packages meant to be delivered by now and my off-the-cuff comment as we exited the Caribbean Art Museum a few days ago made him second guess his purchase.

In December, after some pretty blatant hinting, he bought a sweet painting by a local artist. But when we were at the museum last, I said, "Oh good, that painting I wanted is still here." and he panicked. Turns out, the artist often paints the same subject - colorful cottages with children playing. Peter had gotten me the one I had asked for but recently, they had replaced it with another one, so similar were the two that I wouldn't have known the difference between one cottage painting and the other.

Which just goes to show you...it's all a matter of perspective. Side-by-side, would I prefer one of these paintings over the other? No.

In comparison, would my birthday have been better if all had gone as planned? Apparently, not. It was a wonderful day.