Unusually and exceedingly peculiar and altogether quite impossible to describe
So, as you are WELL AWARE, my sister got married last weekend. THIS weekend my side of the family is headed to the beach (well, what we Washingtonians call a beach) for a little family vacation. Because of those two things I made absolutely no plans - NONE, I SWEAR - for my birthday, which is today. I mean, ordinarily there are parades and visits from the president and honorary degrees and all that, but this year I told Phillip, "Low key! Nothing big! Maybe just a catered luncheon!" REALLY.
I did make myself a cake, though. The chocolate cake and frosting on the back of the Hershey's cocoa box. (RECOMMEND.) Jack and Molly helped by cutting out the parchment circles for the cake pan and licking the spoons. I did take a long leisurely bath during which I read an entire issue of Entertainment Weekly without any interruptions. I did let out a squeal when my husband handed me a card with tickets to Wicked inside (perhaps he's heard me singing along to the Wicked Pandora station lately?) (There's a strange exhilaration! In such total detestation!) (It's so pure so STROOOOOONG!)
Otherwise... my parents and brother and SIL and nephews were going to come up and visit for a while. The FPC would drop by with Rosie. La la la. But then my parents took the kids home a bit after lunch and my brother and sister just... stayed. I think they all had better things to do, but everyone just sort of... didn't get up. And we talked about a million different things and soon we were discussing what to order from the Thai restaurant down the street and opening the wine and I kept thinking: this is why I wanted a bunch of kids. Because maybe sharing a room is a bummer and your brother still beats you up well into your teenage years and no one owns up to their turn to do the dishes, but when you're a grown up, brothers and sisters are pretty awesome.
My growing up experiences seem pretty different from my siblings'. You can tell just from our high school-centric conversation this afternoon (my two brothers, two sisters, and one SIL all knew each other in high school and half the people they talk about are total strangers to me.) It's me, then two brothers who shared a lot of the same friends and then two sisters, all of us just one year apart. It's no secret that my sole objective from age thirteen or fourteen was to Leave Home And Go To College. Like the FPC more or less said tonight, "You didn't pay attention to us at all!" Maybe things would have been different if my sisters had been born "next" to me instead of my brothers, but she was right. They were the "little girls" and my brothers were, you know, brothers, and surely there was more to life than this miserable box known as high school.
I always LIKED my brothers and sisters, but I don't feel like we were friends, really, until we were all out of school and living on our own, doing our own thing. There's definitely a way where I feel like I was waiting (whether or not I realized it) for them (especially my sisters) to "catch up" with me. Even though I'm really only a handful of years older! It made a difference.
And now it's so great. SO GREAT. I just love hanging out with them. I know the FPC, at least, is reading this and rolling her eyes because Declaring Your Love For Family Members On Your Dorky Website is not really something you DO in this family but WHATEVS, FPC. You are stuck with me.
(I don't know. Maybe they were driving home tonight all, "Okay, so how do we manage spending an entire weekend with THAT?" But I'm just going to pretend they think I'm awesome.)
But we were even talking about a joint trip to Disneyland with our kids, and what it would be like if my brother and SIL moved to Seattle. Isn't that awesome? Not everyone WANTS to go on a trip with their brother's family, you know? But I totally would. I feel so lucky.
I have a lot of cake in this house, if you're interested. Leftover Thai food? Any takers?
Tomorrow I have to do laundry and pack and buy a whole bunch of salmon at Costco because Phillip and I are in charge of one of the beach weekend dinners and the only thing we are reliably good at is salmon. (MMM.) We also have an Unbloggable Thing happening tomorrow for which I'd like to obnoxiously request some good mojo. And I have another Revamping The Crazy Pills appointment which... well, I guess tonight I'm not feeling super positive about that. I'm feeling sort of "will this ever end" ish. Blargh. But I have a giant basket full of chocolate bars (they accompanied the Wicked tickets) and Phillip doesn't have to go to work in the morning and HELLOOOOOO I am 33 today! I am pro-birthday. Pro-getting older, even if my stupid brother makes stupid jokes about it. 33 just LOOKS good for some reason. It's a good year, right? I NEED A GOOD YEAR.
2004-2010 Maggie Cheung. This drivel is licensed under 
Happy birthday! I hope 33 is a great year.
I totally get you about wanting a bunch of kids because you enjoy your siblings. My siblings and I didn't always get along growing up (I'm the middle of 5) but I love seeing them all now! And I want that for my kids too.
Posted by: Elsha | July 18, 2012 at 08:33 PM
Happy happy birthday!!
Posted by: Jesabes | July 18, 2012 at 09:01 PM
Happy Birthday!
I swore as a kid my brother and I would never be friends. It was just us two, and we had a full-on RIVALRY all throughout childhood. Now I would consider him my best friend. We are still at very different points in our lives, and we don't get together a ton, but he's still such an awesome guy.
Posted by: craftyashley | July 18, 2012 at 09:07 PM
Happy Birthday!!! 33 is an AWESOME age!!
My totally uncommunicative work-a-holic older sister and totally uncommunicative petulant younger sister are both coming to visit next week and I CANNOT WAIT.
Posted by: Ursula | July 18, 2012 at 10:46 PM
I turned 33 in May this year. It had been the best year of my life so far! Happy birthday!
Posted by: Emeth Hesed | July 18, 2012 at 10:51 PM
Happy Birthday Maggie! I'm glad you had a wonderful day!
Posted by: Lori | July 18, 2012 at 11:13 PM
It's going to be a great year. Happy birthday!
Posted by: ccr in MA | July 19, 2012 at 03:33 AM
In my opinion, 33 is guarenteed to be a good year! Happy birthday! I will definitely take some of that cake and Thai food.
I had to wait until my sister was around 26 to be any good. And since that was only a couple of years ago, she still has relapses. But overall, I am pro adult siblings.
Posted by: HereWeGoAJen | July 19, 2012 at 04:30 AM
The title of this post made me love you even more than I already did. Then I got to the part about Wicked tickets and I have to kind of hate you for that because JEALOUS!
I wasn't really *friends* with my sisters until we were all grown up either. (There are four of us, with seven years between the oldest and the youngest. I am number three.) Now, though, they are my best, best friends and some of my favorite people to be around.
Hope your birthday was fabulous!
Posted by: Ashley | July 19, 2012 at 05:26 AM
Happy year!
Posted by: Hillary | July 19, 2012 at 05:42 AM
Happy Belated Birthday, Maggie! I just love reading your blog. You rock!
Posted by: LB | July 19, 2012 at 05:47 AM
Happy Birthday!
One of the reasons we wanted to have siblings for our son was exactly the one you said. So he has those relationships when he's older. As well as learning to share as a child. And apparently because I didn't want to be able to sleep ever again, or have a minute of peace?? ;)
Enjoy your beach holiday!
Posted by: Wendy | July 19, 2012 at 07:41 AM
Happy birthday Maggie! Sounds like it was pretty awesome. When you describe adult siblings, it sounds wonderful! I don't have any. :( (For the record, I was always a great sharer as a kid though, ask my mom. I used to practically give my toys to my friends when they came to play. My only child is too, especially since she has been in daycare since she was four months old and shares with her friends all day long. :) I wish those silly only kid stereotypes would die!)
Luckily, my husband has a sister and we are going to visit them in Canada in August and meet our super-cute nephews, so I am very excited about being called Aunt Sonya and seeing my daughter with her cousins. I'm hoping we have a great visit with them and can plan more joint vacations in the future!
Posted by: Sonya aka Glam-O-Mommy | July 19, 2012 at 09:06 AM
Happy birthday, Maggie! It sounds like it turned out really nicely. And your relationship with your siblings sounds pretty amazing.
Thinking good thoughts about your unbloggable thing and hoping that 33 is truly fantastic.
Posted by: Life of a Doctor's Wife | July 19, 2012 at 12:18 PM
Happy birthday, Maggie. It sounds like you had a great day. And yeah, 33 was fun. 32 was hard for some reason, but 33-36 were pretty damn good. Have a great weekend! And you are so totally right. My sister was always my younger sister until she was out of college a few years. Now we get along wonderfully and I consider her one of my BFFs!
Posted by: Redbecca | July 19, 2012 at 01:32 PM
Happy Birthday! (I just realized that you're the exact same age as my brother...which seems odd because YOU are so grown up and he...is not so much.) I'm so glad you had such a nice birthday, and I hope the weekend goes well too =)!
Posted by: Doing My Best | July 19, 2012 at 08:18 PM
Hope you have a great year!
Once again, can totally relate to so much of your post! I am 33, my sister is 10 years younger and is now my best friend, no question.
Posted by: Julia in Prague | July 20, 2012 at 01:36 AM
I feel the same way about my close-in-age sibs. As the oldest, they were SO annoying when we were kids. And now they are my go-to people. The first ones I call when something good/bad happens. My best friends. Weird how that happens.
Happiest of birthdays, and enjoy your cold-ish beach vacay! Our family does that weekend get-away together once a year. Only we go camping in the woods in the awful heat of the summer. This year we went to a campground where they had a lot of poplar trees that were weeping this sticky sappy substance because of some evil bug eating away at them because it wasn't killed off in the winter freezes (which we lacked this year). Sounds way less glamorous than a beach vacation.
Posted by: Lisa | July 20, 2012 at 07:26 AM
oh happy birthday, Maggie! 33 is a really good year!
Posted by: Rosemary | July 20, 2012 at 07:00 PM
Happy Belated Birthday, I was out of town and I am just catching up. Good writings Maggie!
Posted by: Ji | July 23, 2012 at 10:37 AM
Happy Birthday!! I've been gone and just now catching up. I hope that 33 is an awesome year for you.
Posted by: Heather | July 25, 2012 at 08:08 AM