Best birthday moment

There were a lot of good moments on my birthday.

Zoodle hugged me over and over saying, "I love you, Mommy," and "I like you, Mommy," a huge grin on my face. That was awesome.

But it wasn't the best moment.

A good phone conversation with my twin sister popped me out of my post-vacation funk. That was great.

But it wasn't the best moment.

The Engineer came home with dinner and flowers. That was so sweet.

But it wasn't the best moment.

No, the best moment came after I asked The Engineer, "Did you get cake?"

I'd specifically asked him to pick up a little cake. I'm the birthday cake-maker in our family, and I didn't want to make my own.

"Oh, no!" he exclaimed. He'd put so much thought into the delicious dinner and beautiful flowers that he'd forgotten the cake. "Do you want me to go get some?"

I smiled sheepishly. "Yeah," I said. "I really wanted cake." Then I had a brainstorm. "You know what you could do?" I suggested. "You could take both of the kids to the store, and I'll eat salad and drink wine and read a book in the empty house."

A few minutes later they were out the door, and my best birthday moment began. In fact, it was a lot more than a moment. It was about 45 minutes of amazing quiet in my own home. I hardly ever have my house to myself. It was even better than I thought it would be, sitting there eating delicious green salad and fantastic pasta salad, drinking wine and reading sci-fi in the place where I'm most comfortable, my home.

Spending time with family on my birthday was nice. But spending time by myself.... That was amazing!