Best Birthday Present. Ever.

 

I’m laying in bed reading Tintern Abbey:

“The dreary intercourse of daily life,
Shall e’er prevail against us, or disturb
Our chearful faith that all which we behold
Is full of blessings. Therefore let the moon
Shine on thee in thy solitary walk;
And let the misty mountain winds be free
To blow against thee: and in after years,
When these wild ecstasies shall be matured
Into a sober pleasure, when thy mind	140
Shall be a mansion for all lovely forms,
Thy memory be as a dwelling-place
For all sweet sounds and harmonies; Oh! then,
If solitude, or fear, or pain, or grief,
Should be thy portion, with what healing thoughts
Of tender joy wilt thou remember me”

 

…counting down the seconds to midnight and my twenty-eighth birthday. I felt like I should’ve been doing something interesting, but I’m too sick at the moment to be  involved in any type of activity, so listening to Jawbreaker and reading would suffice. You only turn 28 once or maybe twice, once at midnight and once again if you know the exact time of your birthday — I digress. I looked at the clock, it was 11:59, I closed my eyes, took a deep breath in, and then my phone rang.

Unknown callers usually get ignored, but it’s obviously someone who loves me. The mans voice on the other line was unrecognizable at first. He said, “Happy Brithday I’m just calling to tell you I love you and I have something for you. I just bought a ukulele and i’m going to play you something okay?” At this point it was obvious who was on the other line, and I had the biggest smile on my face. I threw my speaker phone on max volume and shuffled trying to open up Garage Band to record it, and  then he started playing the ukulele as if he’d been playing it for years. The first three notes he played filled me with tears and then started singing… [press play]

I have the the coolest brother in the entire world. This was the Best birthday present ever (and well worth all of the years he spent torturing me). Ever.