A Very Golden Birthday

My amazing husband got the thrill of a lifetime when we first began dating and the discussion of golden birthdays came up.  At this time, I can't recall the context of the conversation, all I remember is the excitement that has been welling up inside his soul ever since.  You see, a golden birthday is when you turn the age of the date of your birthday.  For example, when I turned 10 on April 10th, that was my golden birthday.  (And it was a glorious day.  More on that in a moment...)  For the past 2+ years, D has been anxiously patiently awaiting this birthday.  On Saturday, he finally turned 26 on January 26th. 

Let's give a little bit of context.  I thought that everybody celebrated golden birthdays.  You know, when you are a child, you think everybody's life is like yours.  You don't know any different.  Well, it wasn't until I got older that I realized it wasn't the case.  And recently, my cousin informed me that golden birthdays must be a Waggoner thing (my mom's family) because they all celebrate them.  All I can say is... you need to Google it... because it's a real thing.  And I will go ahead and apologize to all of you that are getting angry right now because you are realizing your golden birthday has already passed and nobody did anything special for you.  Well I'm sorry.  It's not my fault, okay?

Anyway, on MY golden birthday, I got to open a dozen presents within a present present each day starting with April 1st until my actual birthday on the 10th.  It was the best time ever.  In hindsight I realize how incredibly spoiled I was as a child, so I will limit the amount of goodies I mention as to save my family the embarrassment of the ridiculousness.  Each day had a theme.  I got games, clothes, money, American Girl doll accessories, etc.  THEN, on the last day, my brother (yes, he got in on it, too... lame) and I both opened suitcases packed full of travel goodies and an itenerary to show the trip we would be taking that summer back to visit friends and special places in Texas, where we had recently moved from.  I cried.  It was amazing.

Needless to say, D's birthday had to also be amazing.  Even more needless to say, I did not have the kind of money to support the same kind of extravagance for 26 straight days.  SO, my mom gave me the greatest of ideas... include other people!  We have such wonderful family and friends that I was able to get several people in on the adventure.  (THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED!)  The best part was that I didn't tell D that other people were a part of it, so it took him by surprise when the presents started coming from unexpected places.  He actually didn't catch on until the second person other than me gave him a gift.  Then, it became a guessing game!  Who will it be today?!  I gave each person a golden number as a symbol so that he would know when it was one of his gifts.  Here is a rundown of his overloaded birthday fun:

1- Me: The OC Season 3 (Don't judge him.  He's just a tenderhearted man.)
2- Me: Boxers (He needed them.)
3- Me: Dallas Cowboys shirt and calendar
4- Me: A couple of travel games
5- Jerel: Chick-Fil-A gift card (He thought it was from me at the time, and later had to call and thank him)
6- His Mom: Mini Red Velvet cake
7- Me: DVDs- The Amazing Spiderman, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Safe House
8- Connor (my brother): iTunes gift card
9- My Mom: The OC Season 4 (Gotta complete the set!)
10- His Mom: A football movie
11- Me: A couple of $5 gift cards to places he eats at regularly during the work day

12- Cory (his brother): Captain America t-shirt
13- Tommy: Rootbeer Float (and lunch)
14- Carson: A special note (He's so sentimental, you know... and broke)
15- Cory: Movie night
16- Kebel: Candle and Batman socks with CAPES on them!
17- Youth guys and Blake: Dinner and bowling
18- Me: An assortment of his favorite candies- Kit Kat, Hershey's Cookies 'n Cream drops, and Buncha Crunch

19- My Dad: Express gift card (I had to trick D into going to Franklin with me to get this one accomplished!
20- Blake: iTunes gift card
21- His Mom: 4 Rootbeer bottles and lunch at Richie's (Again, I tricked him into getting to the restaurant.  He thought he was just meeting me!)

22- Pastor Ashley: Lunch and a shirt from Buckle
23- My Mom: Glee Season 3 (...Seriously, stop with the judgement...)
24- Me: A wall hanging of a cross mounted on a shield
25- Me: 4 bottles of his favorite Orange Creme Soda
26- Me: A weekend getaway to Magnolia cottage in Mount Juliet complete with a salmon dinner and a homemade Red Velvet cake!

SO... I'm pretty sure that he had a great 26 days long birthday.  The flip side is that on the 27th he gave me a pouty face and said, "It's not my birthday anymore.  I want a present."

Oh well.  I tried.