I had the most wonderful birthday today. First of all, it was very interesting because Qualtrics IPOed today, and gave all the employees the day off, encouraging us to do a day of service to give back to the world around us.
I had already planned to take the day off, and got a Qualtrics free pass to go skiing. I debated whether or not to ski, or if I would do service the whole day, but seeing as how I had already planned it, it was my birthday, and my friend was able to join me, I went ahead with plans.
Skiing was soooo wonderful. My equipment wasn’t working the best (right boot was too loose, which is no surprise because I have a right foot a half size smaller than my right), but the snow was amazing, and I was overall feeling pretty good despite a crushing three days of work prior.
I had a wonderful time talking with Joe and Tanner (another Qualtrics colleague). We talked about life on the lift and enjoyed going down the slopes together. I’m getting better, so people don’t have to wait for me quite so much anymore. I really appreciated the ability to reconnect with Joe who used to be on my team, and how I really enjoy as a good friend. He is a very good man.
Here is a photo of us (Joe is on the left)!
After skiing I went home, where I was about to walk into so so much love. Lily is the BEST with holidays. Whether it’s a birthday, St. Patrick’s day, Christmas, an election, or even just a season she wants to celebrate, she is the best at making occasions memorable, making everyone feel festive and happy, and on birthdays making the celebrated one feel truly celebrated.
Whether for my birthday or for one of the kids, I always plead with Lily to not do too much, to not overdo it, but her heart just bursts with festivity, and she LOVES to make people feel special.
And what did I learn today? I learned that all of my children have acquired Lily’s love of and aptitude for holiday’s and celebrating people. For days the kids had been putting up posters, pictures and a banner…
…but when I arrived from skiing, I found a Christmas-style pile of presents waiting for me, people in party-hats, with the kids out of their mind with excitement to give me all of their gifts and celebrate my birthday. Here is a video of me walking into the scene after cleaning up after skiing.
Here are pictures of the festivities:
I had fun patting people on the head to the music while people sang to me.
Even though Lily had trouble sleeping last night, she still watched the kids so I could ski, made me my annual request of borscht soup (and she nailed it again), and she made my cake request (my favorite) of America’s Test Kitchen’s triple chocolate moose cake. Everything was so so good. My family gave me such a wonderful birthday. I am so so so happy just remembering it.
Over dinner, people said things they liked about me, which was very touching. Lydia said she liked that I’m a kid inside. That comment may have inspired what happened at bed-time, which was me chasing the kids around upstairs and throwing them (making them fly) on the couch while we listened to songs about flying (John Denver Fly Away, Lenny Kravitz Fly Away, Sugar Ray I just wanna Fly). It was a fun sequal to what I played with the older girls a week or two ago when they tried to walk across the top of the couch while I pushed them onto the couch while we listened to songs about falling (Free Falling by Tom Petty, Falling by Alicia Keys etc). It’s easy to be a kid when I have such fun kids to play with!
To top it off, I visited Morgan and Jessie at their doorstep to drop off some Borscht. It was so nice to visit for a bit. They usually join us for Borscht, and Jessie especially appreciates the soup since she served her mission in Russia.
Many friends and family called, texted or sent me a facebook message. It was a very very happy day.