So the weird thing about turning 29 is that when you tell people that you are turning 29 they think you are being coy and lying about your age, so to clarify I told them that today was my 29th birthday, the first of many!
I went to work on my birthday, only because I needed to get some papers out of my classroom and couldn’t figure out how to sneak in and get them…darn cameras. So my student Fatime came up and gave me a big, tight hug, the kind that knocks the wind out of you.
I have been trying to break her of this hugging thing but it is hard to tell a sixth grader who has been taken away from her mother and everyone and everything she knows to come to NYC that she can’t hug you. Fatime wished me a happy birthday and then produced a gift she had wrapped. Based on past gifts from students I expected it to be a half eaten bag of chips or some dancing cat figurine that she had swiped from her mother‘s bathroom counter collection. Instead I found this…
That’s right, folks, a real live Barack Obama wallet, complete with Michelle and one of the kids. She had saved up her bus money to buy it by walking home. I was, of course, ecstatic and have quickly adopted using it.
When I got home my roommate Cristi had turned my house into a birthday wonderland and gave me some awesome cake and an AMAZING birthday present. I have a brand new 10 megapixel Cannon Digital Camera. She had researched, with a bunch of professional photographers in the ward and found that this was an amazing camera. She said that she was investing some of the money that she owed me but in reality she is just an awesome friend that gives great gifts!
This card sums up our friendship pretty accurately.
