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I woke up this morning a whole year older. Ugh! It did get me thinking on past birthdays:

The cake with “Happy Birthday Jacqueline from Ronald McDonald” that I got at my McDonald’s birthday party. Oh yeah! They know how to suck you in young and start the French fry addiction early.

The 10 speed bike my parents bought me that I had trouble getting the hang of. The first time I came screeching up my grandmother’s driveway I hit only the front breaks causing the back of the bike to come up over my head hurling me into the garage door.

Getting ALL of the Nancy Drew mysteries that I was missing on one day and having to decide which one to read first. Go by the numbers of course. These are still at my father’s house waiting to be read by my sister.

My 21st birthday spent with a good friend at a dive bar named Juliet’s. Standing on the barstools drinking Cactus shots. Mature, really mature.

The birthday I spent alone in a one bedroom efficiency in Lubbock, TX. All of my friends had finals the next day so no one would celebrate with me. I ended up going to the strip for a bottle of wine and drinking it in front of my tiny gas space heater.

The luau C threw for my 30th. It was a beautiful day until the temperature dropped a trillion degrees and we had to use propane heaters in the big tent to keep semi-warm.

My 31st in New Orleans. This was a fun one! Casinos, Cajun food, champagne, a drag brunch. Our most proper friend showing up at the hotel a bit tipsy wearing no shoes and a Café du Monde paper hat.

Going to NYC with C. She woke me up the day of my birthday by throwing a snow ball on me in bed that she had collected from the window sill of our room. That is one of my favorite memories. We captured Sadaam Hussein that day.