Inseparable Nomads

YouTube - Shelby's 25th Birthday and First Skydive!

A few weeks ago I celebrated the completion of my 25th trip around the sun!  One quarter of a century!  If it were the anniversary of a marriage it would be the Silver anniversary, and funny enough, the word “anniversary” is a bastardization of the French word for birthday: anniversaire, so I decided to refer to this particular birthday as my “Silver Anniversaire.”  (Just to clear up any confusion.)

Although birthdays only take place on one special day each year, this year I was lucky enough to celebrate practically all week long!  Not at all due to my personal planning, as you will see.

The festivities started the day before my birthday, April 20th.  I spent a large part of the day cleaning the house and, for a change, happy to do it, since I’d planned a party the following day.  Once everything was cleaned to my satisfaction (and I was on a roll) I headed over to Jason and David’s since they were waiting for me because David wouldn’t be able to celebrate with me the following day due to his job.  Foster picked me up and started teaching me how to play Magic: The Gathering as soon as we arrived.  David bought a handle of Malibu passionfruit rum for the occasion and we took shots throughout the night. I was having a great time hanging out with everyone, taking a few shots and learning a new game, what a great precursor to my birthday!  I was waiting for Andrew to join us, so when Foster asked if I wanted to go get some food with him, I declined (even though I was starving) because I didn’t want Andrew to be upset that I left and got food without him.

A few minutes later Andrew calls and acts very pissy and needy on the phone insisting that I meet him outside to go straight back to the house even though we originally planned to continue hanging out at Jason and David’s.  I was super bummed out upon getting into the car only to be bombarded with a load of jealous / needy / angry boyfriend questions: “Why didn’t you answer my first call?  Why did it take you so long to come down to meet me?  Why didn’t you mention Foster was there?” etc etc.  I was so angry and disappointed when we pulled into the parking space in front of my house wondering what had gone wrong with my awesome day.  I totally didn’t expect a bunch of my friends to start screaming and throwing confetti in my face upon entering the house!  A surprise party!  I’ve never had a surprise party thrown for me!  I was so happy to see everyone and all the balloons!  SO MANY BALLOONS.  Andrew organized the whole thing, and even baked me a cake: pineapple!  There were a ton of snacks on the table and my friends were all hugging me and wishing me a Happy Birthday.  It was already a Happy Birthday, for sure, and it was only the beginning!

Balloons!

Great "That Guy" pic

The next day, the 21st, was my actual birthday and Andrew was probably more excited than is was!  He started giving me presents right away when we woke up and when I got back from the gym (Abs Tuesdays w/ Amalia, even on my birthday!) he was in the kitchen making me a cheese and mushroom omelet (which turned out amazingly)!  I had planned a potluck for my birthday and still needed to run and get some errands since I’d gotten nothing done the night before due to the surprise party.  We headed up to the mall first because I desperately needed a new pair of sneakers to wear to work (another birthday present) then got the last of our ingredients at the nearby Tops.

We were running a bit behind, but luckily I had a bunch of helping hands at the house who made about half of what I’d planned on making!  Thanks to Mike for making the Spanish tortillas, Amalia for chopping all the veggies for the pasta salad (on top of all the veggies she chopped for her veggie + ranch dip) and Matt and Amalia for making the banana bread and Andrew for helping with other side projects and the chocolate Mousse!  I also made this French chicken dish I made for my friend (and bridesmaid) Maria’s birthday last year in France.  With all the stuff that everyone else brought to share, plus what we made, there was a ton to eat and drink and eat and drink again! Thanks a lot guys!  We all hung out with our food comas drinking beers (and still eating occasionally) until it was late and, well, there was no food left!  Lots of great pics!

Lots of Food

Birthday Kisses

Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon I had to work and I received a lot more Happy Birthdays from my coworkers after describing all the festivities that had gone on the previous two days.  I even had decent tables with nice people (which I’m always grateful for since it’s not necessarily common)!  Thursday after I got out of work I convinced Andrew to take me shopping (another present from him and his family – Thanks!) after wandering around the commons after work and finding an amazing dress. I successfully dragged him around Kohl’s and Maurices where I found a lot of bargains and pretty new things!  Since returning to the states (and during the end of my stay in Europe) I’ve been seriously struggling to make my ends meet so I hadn’t been able to buy any new clothes.  Christmas brought me a few new bits but an actual shopping spree was long due!  I’m still excited about my new clothes!

Friday nothing much exciting happened since I had to work a double at Benchwarmer’s.  It was a busy day and went by fast, which is all you can really ask for when you have to work doubles.

It wasn’t really a problem that Friday was so low-key and uneventful because Saturday more than made up for it!  Andrew and I woke up bright and early (for us!) at quarter to 9, dressed, grabbed breakfast at Ithaca Bakery and headed up to the dropzone in Ovid, NY.  I was scheduled to do my first tandem skydive that afternoon!!!!!!!! I must admit that I was rather nervous the whole morning (and night before, really).  I mostly worried about losing control of my bodily functions (ie: peeing my pants) once exiting the plane which may not really be a big deal, but Andrew knows all these people personally so I didn’t want to make a fool of myself!  We pretty much sat around all morning since we got there so early (10:30) so Andrew and Tom (the rigger) could line his gear with a new canopy he was trying and I wasn’t scheduled to go up until 1pm.

Anxiety aside, I was rather calm but super excited!  These feelings only increased in that last hour before the jump when I had to watch the safety videos, sign my life away, and get briefed on what was going to happen and how to properly react (body positions, etc).  Then I found myself sitting beside Andrew in a tiny little five person plane gaining, gaining, gaining altitude and waiting, waiting, waiting to reach 10,000 feet…then Brett, my super awesome Tandem instructor, was indicating we needed to get in position to be attached…then “DOOR!”  The door was opened and the noise from the rushing air deafened everyone and Andrew and the other fun jumper were out the door!  “HOLY CRAP!  It’s my turn!”  Brett and I start shuffling to the door, following the instructions he had repeated to me a handful of times, we’re at the door, “Right foot out, left foot out, smile for the camera!  Ready?  Set.  ARCH!!” We’re out the door and in freefall, for the first time in my life!!  It was incredible!  Beyond words, an amazing experience!!  Freefall technically lasted 30 seconds but was an intangible amount of time seeming longer and faster at the same time.  Tap on the shoulder and then the crazy feeling of being caught at terminal velocity by a lifesaving parachute.  The canopy ride down to earth was fun and short lived as well: spectacular views of the area on a beautiful, sunny day, and a bit of “roller-coaster ride” fun when Brett allowed me to do some quick spirals by yanking down hard on one of the parachute toggles and a nice and easy landing (on our feet!)!

Along the Cascadilla Falls trail

We spent a little more time at the dz kiting Andrew’s canopy and bumming around but left soon thereafter since we’d already spent a lot of time there for the day.  On the way back to Ithaca we stopped at Andrew’s favorite little ice cream shack for some tasties and formulated out plans for the rest of the day.  First a stop at the house then off for a hike at Cascadilla falls with refreshing incentives at the top when it ends in Collegetown! I’ve become a big fan of the a new spot there, The Green Cafe.  There’s a juice bar, along with various other goodies, so we ordered some drinks and continued our trek back down to the car.  We didn’t have much time to spare because we had made reservations for the last of my birthday presents: Dinner at John Thomas! After a quick shower, and some dressing up we headed up South Hill to indulge in what is known as the best steakhouse in the area!  It was delicious.  And fancy.  And there were gazebos. ^_^

Pathway along Cascadilla Falls trail

A waterfall along Cascadilla Falls trail

Overall one of the best birthdays I’ve ever had!  I’ll never forget how special and loved I felt.  Thank you everyone that helped to make it so memorable, in person or remotely, I truly am blessed.

At the top of the post is a movie Andrew made for me of the surprise party and my skydiving footage.  Enjoy!

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 21st, 2009 at 11:41 am and is filed under Party, Skydiving, Work. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.