I'm Married to a Man in His 30's!

Gilbert is 30 years old today! It seems sort of crazy, but I think I've been harassing him about this day for the past year, so it doesn't seem as crazy as it did a year ago. However, that means it's my turn to be harassed, because I'm not too far from reaching the official "30's around the corner" point myself. I personally think he's glad to have finally arrived at this point, because I think he's been hesitant for as long as he's been looking to be a pulpit minister to tell people he's in his twenties. Thirty just seems to have so much more...hmmm...clout behind it than 29 does.

Anyway, my mom has always been good about making an issue of monumental birthdays. For example, she thinks turning 25 merits an extra special gift. I guess some of that rubbed off on me, because even though we were pretty broke last month, I really wanted to do something special for Gilbert's monumental day. I mean, you only turn thirty once, and these big birthdays only come every decade or so. So when I found out Coldplay was going to be in Chicago, I couldn't stand it. I whipped out the credit card (which is normally only used for major, critical things--doesn't this qualify?) and bought tickets. That was in the first half of June. And here's the really exciting part--I mean, I'm shocked. I kept them a secret until yesterday afternoon, when I went to see him at the office, had him open the tickets, and said, "It's tonight. We're leaving right now."

I had lined up a "slumber party" for Cole with his good pals the Andersons (Thanks, guys!), cooked up a story about something we were doing last night so Gilbert wouldn't make plans, and the surprise was on. It was so exciting, and he had absolutely no clue what I was up to.



Let me just make myself clear. I absolutely, totally STINK at surprises. I either can't stand the wait and have to tell, or I can't make decisions on my own, so I have to ask for input. But I did this totally without Gilbert's help! Woo-hoo! I did get a help from Mandy to work out some details, and I got the elder's permission to kidnap Gilbert from the office early, but I am really so proud of myself. (By the way, I decided I was going to post a factual, objective account of Gilbert's birthday celebration, but I couldn't help myself. I had to pat myself on the back. Sorry.)

I hope he understands, though, that he shouldn't expect anything else like this at least until his 40th. And even then I may still be worn out. I mean really. My energy's gone.

**By the way, the concert was GREAT! If you've ever seen Chris Martin perform on t.v., let me just tell you, he has every bit as much energy live in concert. We had a really, really great and memorable time.