Everything that was left over

It is almost my birthday. Almost.

One summer when I was a little kid, my mom was talking on the phone with my uncle and she asked me if I wanted to say hi. So I get on the phone and my uncle is asking me the kinds of things grown ups ask little kids and out of the blue I happen to mention that it's almost my birthday. And my mother sputters, "Honestly, Maggie!" because it's, like, early June.

I do love my birthday.

My office makes a fairly big deal out of birthdays. You get a card that everyone signs when you're not looking and somebody makes a cake. We sing the Happy Birthday song. But it's summer and half of my office is on vacation. I might get a cake still, but I'm hoping I get taken out for my first 3-martini lunch. Preferably here. The bosses are out of the country, so why not?

I own two Birthday Crowns. One is a headband that says HAPPY BIRTHDAY in sparkly silver letters and the other is more Burger King-style with a pink ribbon fringe and glitter. I save these for my friends' birthdays. I really want to wear one at my party tomorrow. Of course, wearing one would kind of defeat the half-hearted attempt at not having a party that's all about Me. (It's also about my new house. Okay, so, no matter what, definitely about me.)

We gave up on the paint. I happened to mention to my coworkers, most of whom are well versed in Home Renovations, that I was using Behr paint. And they all got disgusted looks on their faces, even though I swear someone somewhere recommended Behr paint. Then I called up a snooty paint store and asked their opinion on how to fix the red terror. "Uhhh, primer?" the 18-year-old shop assistant suggested. "And then one of our products." So that's what we're going to do. For party purposes we will unplastic (but not untape) the bathroom, stick the halogen light in there and hopefully send the guests upstairs when they need to go. I decided to Get Over It, to the extent that that's possible, and face the fact of having a red terror bathroom for the next month. Eventually we will go over the entire thing with primer and do it over (red again!) with a Very Expensive Well Recommended Paint. We will ask many questions of the paint specialists at the paint-only store. And we are not painting ANYTHING again.

Last night, instead of painting, I had dinner with a friend. I ripped out the dead marigolds and repositioned the live ones. I bug sprayed my zinnias within an inch of their lives. I made a list of ingredients to buy for my two (two!) birthday cakes. It was nice to not think about paint. Said my friend, after popping her head into the red bathroom and seeing the paint tray and rollers still on the floor, "It looks like you just stopped and walked away." We did.

But I dreamed about paint.

I want to buy this and play it at the party. What do you think?

And on an entirely different note:

We received letters from the students we 'taught' in China for 3 weeks last August and September.  They were living in one apartment in the big city for two years for the express purpose of learning English. I still don't want to say much about what we really did there. We were told that 150 Chinese were recently arrested when authorities found out about a church meeting. 150. We've thought about our students so much and worried about what will happen to them when they finish their training. They are very brave. As it turns out, the boys have the opportunity to attend a school in South Africa for a year after 'graduation' this August. I have no idea how they acquired the paperwork to leave China. The girls are moving on to Chinese cities. The youngest one is disappointed because she must go back to her village. I miss them. I wish I could visit them again. I wish I could send them email or invite them over for dinner. I will probably never see them again. And one day other people will lose track of them too and I won't ever find out where they are, how they're using their English. I liked teaching them. I liked thinking about how to explain words and grammar. It was a good job.

I am suddenly all mopey.

Anyway. Just catching up. See you on the day that IS my birthday.