My Baja Birthday

Baja birthday

For years I've been saying that I had two favorite birthdays: one when I turned ten, oh glorious ten, and my father organized a real birthday party for me...and the other one when I turned 35, and Monte and I were camping in Baja with our bike-riding friends. 

Anyway, just a few minutes ago, my friend Steve sent the above picture taken in Baja that very day...in 1986.

There's a funny story connected with that campfire. One of the gang (Andria, probably) had brought down an extravagant birthday cake, with mocha chips and real whipped cream. We knew it wouldn't keep: we ate as much as we possibly could, then ate a little more, and finally, with a ceremonial flourish, someone flung it into the fire.

Steve and I were seized with remorse. Man, we loved that cake! Seemed a shame to let it burn. We could still eat a few more morsels...couldn't we? So we reached into the fire in an attempt to rescue it.

It sounds so juvenile, but it became a legendary memory within our little circle of friends, one of those silly anecdotes that come up up again and again whenever old farts gather and reminisce.

Anyway, here I am, on another birthday many years later. I still love cake with real whipped cream and will eat too much of it if given the chance. And I'm still in touch with most of the friends sitting around that campfire; in fact, we saw several of them in person just a few weeks ago, and it gives me such a reassuring sense of continuity.

You know what else? I never dreamed I would say this...it's been a heckuva year in many ways...but I am going to add this birthday to my list of best ones ever. I feel blessed and grateful and filled with love.

Everything leads to this implausible present.