but first, about my birthday

To celebrate my birthday I slept all day and then went to the hospital for a twelve hour shift. Fortunately I am dating a very sweet, well-intentioned boy who wasn't going to let my 26th year on this earth go by so unnoticed. My parents arranged for a gluten free cake with my name on it (literally) to be made at a bakery here in Denver. JP picked it up and brought it to the hospital to celebrate the day, complete with candles. Yes, he brought candles, because what is a birthday cake without candles? Unfortunately, and he was pretty excited about this part, he seized this first opportunity in his life to buy trick candles that relight and relight and relight. When they relight they also emit a lot of smoke. The sweet gesture ended in a panicked frenzy of magazine waving, door opening, and squashing candles between wet fingers in an effort to avoid setting off the fire alarm in the hospital at midnight. Luckily we did not in fact set off the alarm, but more than one person commented on how it smelled like something was burning and we quickly redirected their fear by shoving (delicious) cake in their faces.

All in all, it was a great birthday.