My 34th Birthday Bonanza!

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This year I was completely spoiled.
Completely spoiled. From even before the beginning of the day till the end of the real day. Home highlights:

• Being able to celebrate early at home with my parents and the Goo in my parents' kitchen
• Cake 1 was Portillo's
• The Goo sang "Happy Birthday Dad" when she was supposed to say Megan or Sister. She's never living that down.

That was a pretty great start to things. Then the celebration moved south to Brasilia where the highlights include:

• A 6:45 birthday call from my parents who sang it not once but twice and the second time with feeling,
• Arriving to school and finding a clue on my desk,
• A birthday scavenger hunt that led me from friend to friend who passed on wonderful gifts that my mom had sent. Thank goodness the bras weren't part of the mix as I had to open up things in front of everyone.
• The clues were written by each person so some were more easily determined than others. Being my usual overanalytical self I had trouble starting but once I got rolling, it got easier. In most rooms I had to complete a task to earn my present. Tasks included: listing all of the Character Counts Pillars, taking a trig quiz (brought up my math phobia) and also a quiz where I had to determine HS students' nationalities by only asking 5 questions.
• Getting lots of great treats from my family including Reese's, Amazon cards for more books for my Kindle, cute shirts, a book sharing Mumbai fables and some really cool glasses
• Having an extra long lunch with my wonderful teaching partner at Tribo. Amazing.
• Having my students surprise me with notes and a lovely cake and loads of presents including lots of beautiful flowers

Then with my arms full, I got a lift home from Erica and I took a break, chatted with the Goo (this year without an awful car accident) and Colleen.

At just about 6:30 I headed over to Wolvies where my presence had been requested. This is where the birthday bonanza went to a whole new level. 

The evening was titled "Fun and Funky" because they said those words that describes me. It included:

• A Fun and Funky dinner with with dishes like exploding salad, deviled egg boats, asparagus with proscuitto, meatloaf and mashed potato cupcakes, ants on a log, mini-cheese burgers and ice cream cupcakes for dessert
• A FLASHMOB!  A personalized flashmob just for me.  I've always wanted to be in one and my friends here practiced in their homes and arm chairs and performed one to Katy Perry's Firework just for me.  They changed the word "Baby" to "Megan" to personalize it even more.  The flashmob began with Erin asking me the question, "Do you ever feel like a plastic bag floating in the wind?" and then Sam following up with "Do you ever feel already buried deep six feet under scream but no one hears a thing?"  At this point I recognized song lyrics.  I said that and then Erin said one more line before she and Ellie jumped up with plastic bags and began dancing.  Soon Jamey joined, then Sam and Andrea and Kathy and finally Erica.  It was amazing.  I still shake my head just thinking about it.

It was a perfect night.  A perfect celebration.  I don't even know how to express what a wonderful day it was. Right now tears are flowing very easily with the upcoming transition on my mind. Thank you all for celebrating me. Words can say thanks enough. I love you.