30th Birthday Weekend: Recap and Scorecard

I can't begin to put into words how amazing this past weekend was, thanks to my lovely wife. It was one of the most humbling, exciting, and fulfilling weekends of my life, and I owe it all to her. Let's try to recap!

Thursday, June 14th

I woke up. I didn't feel any older. I didn't suddenly feel like I was all grown up or anything. I went to work like I do most every day (except I didn't really get a lot of actual "work" done). Some people brought me cards and my boss brought his birthday balloon (he turned 50 the day before) and taped it to my bookshelf in a somewhat humorous display.

Melissa and I had made plans to eat lunch together, which was basically all I had on my docket at the office. She arrived about 12:40, and we went to J. Alexanders. She had this mysterious bag of presents that I wasn't allowed to look in. Little did I know...

We had been planning on going on a trip to South Carolina in mid-July. At least, that's what I thought. So, imagine my surprise when I opened my card and found that, instead, we were going to FREAKING IRELAND that week. I've wanted to go there for about as long as I can remember, and now we're going! And I had absolutely no idea! Also included in the bag-o-mystery: a potato, some Irish Spring body wash, a six-pack of Guinness, some Lucky Charms, an awesome book on things to do in Ireland as well as a copy of McCarthy's Bar, and irish cookies.

So, then, back at the office, we were greeted by well-wishing and apple pie courtesy of my co-workers. I dig apple pie. I basically then bummed around the rest of the afternoon, and headed home... thinking that Melissa had dropped the biggest bomb in her arsenal. Little did I know...

I got home, and who was sitting on our couch but Jason, one of my very best friends. I had no idea he was coming! Tricky woman, she is. We went out, enjoyed some Chile Verde, went to BW's and watched the Cavs suck it up one last time, and proceeded to get hammered (well, I did, anyway). Good times. I also found out during this stretch that another part of my surprise is a trip to Cleveland on Friday to see an Indians game!

Final Score: Trip to Ireland 1, Trip to South Carolina 0, Cavs 0-for-4


Friday, June 15th

The new grill arrived!

My folks thought a new grill would be a nice addition to our patio. And right they were! This thing is huge, and puts out enough heat to apparently melt the siding on my house. I believe that, on Saturday evening, Jason had enough food grilling on this thing at one time to feed 20 people. According to the Lowe's website, it has a "28 burger capacity." When I will be cooking 28 burgers at one time, I'll never know. But it's nice to know that I can!

While I had known the grill was coming, the surprises didn't stop. As mentioned above, Melissa had gotten tickets to Friday night's Tribe game, and so I was assuming it was to be her, Jason, and myself as we drove up to Cleveland Friday afternoon. As we got ready to leave Columbus, Melissa wondered if we might get there in time to go have a beer at the Winking Lizard. Never one to turn down a beer before or during a baseball game, it sounded fine to me. We got to our hotel in Cleveland, set out on foot for the Jake, and when we got to Prospect Street we headed toward the Lizard.

"I don't want to go to the Winking Lizard anymore," said my wife. "I want to go to the Boneyard." Now, had I had any sort of sense about me, I'd have smelled a set-up. The Boneyard is not a place you would ever intentionally want to go. So it was that we walked back to the back, and there were all four of my parents waiting for us.

My dad and step-mother gave me a nice gift card to Golf Galaxy, as I have had my eye on a nice new approach wedge to give me more options for skulling the ball 50 feet past the hole around the green:

Once I can find one of these clubs in-stock, I will be all set to go. And probably will still shoot in the mid-90s. But I will do it with a sweet-ass gap wedge.

We all had a beer, walked over to the game, and had great seats all together on the first base line:


The Tribe dropped a heart-breaker to the Braves, but the fireworks were great and it was just amazing to have everyone there. The nachos, however, got the last laugh. All three of us that ate them were sorely wishing we hadn't by bed time.

Final Score: Char-Broil 28, Dan 6, Braves 5, Indians 4, Nachos 3


Saturday, June 16th

This was to be party day. We'd long been planning a cookout, and at this point I was now officially ready for and expecting any and everything from my wife. Or so I thought. We spent the day cleaning up the house (I cut the grass and cleaned up the bathrooms, Jason was a champ cleaning the patio and raking the grass, and I can't even quantify how much work Melissa did) and getting ready. Jason and I had done the grocery shopping on Friday before traveling north, so everything was stocked.

Guests began to arrive with my mom and step-father at 4:30 or so, and continued on for a few hours. When we reached the top end of the guest count, the grilling began. Grill master Williams (who regaled us with tales of basically burning his eyebrows and eyelashes off as well as burning another grill to the ground) cashed in his grill Karma and did a masterful job. I believe (and he can probably correct me here, since he kept a well-organized list) he had: 12 burgers, 10 brats, and 8 hot dogs all cooking at one time on this grill, and there was still some space left over. Everything was delicious.

I went inside to find that Melissa had blown up a picture of me at what I believe was my 9th birthday blowing out some candles. I couldn't really complain, but it was definitely a shock! There were not one but two cakes (one a Scooby Doo ice cream cake, which is just kick-ass), many many snacks, and good times for everyone.

We also collectively polished off the greater portion of a 24-case of Miller Lite in 16-oz bottles, a 5 liter keg of Heineken, and 12s of Sierra Nevada and Great Lakes sampler packs. In other words, it was ON.

Many thoughtful, thoughtful people gave very nice gifts, including a round of golf at a friend's country club, a Grady Sizemore jersey, a C.C. Sabathia Disco Bobblehead, some Cleveland Indians pajamas (sensing a theme here?), a nice Michigan shirt, and some gift cards for some of my favorite stores. Really, them just being at our house to help celebrate was gift enough for me.

Some stragglers (including my folks, who stayed over) managed to play some Cap-In-The-Hole Challenge as well as Tripoli and Euchre into the wee hours of the night.

Final Score: Burgers 12, Brats 10, Hot Dogs 8, Dan's Liver -15


Overall

In all seriousness, to see so many people do so many nice things for me just because I was born a few years ago is a truly humbling experience. To have my wife go so far above and beyond is truly humbling. I'm very blessed to have her as my wife, and I still can't believe all of the things she did for my birthday. I have plans for hers next year already formulated, but the bar has been set so incredibly high I don't know how I can live up!

I spent a large portion of my early 20's thinking that 30 was a long way off, and thankfully so because it signified the end of youth. I have since realized that age is only a number, and that the important things are the people in your life. I couldn't be more blessed at this point in my life, and when I turned 25 I hadn't even met the most important person I will ever meet yet. So, so what if I'm 30 now? The weekend of my 30th birthday was the best weekend of my life, short of the weekend we got married.

How can that be a bad thing??