A Very Merry Unbirthday!

We're all mad here.

Today was the best birthday I've ever had (that wasn't actually my birthday, or even her's). Hell's Bells hit the big 1-8 on Friday. According to her, being legal means:

1. "Tittttttyyyyyy barrrrr" (facebook status)

2. She "can bring home 38 year old men!" Statutory rape is a thing of the past!

3. Not having to bum fake IDs to get into the same clubs mi madre used to party at.

Her actual birthday was rough going, culminating in a great dinner at Tucanos where the waiters brought me the bloodiest meat they were allowed to (thumbs up!) but the circumstances were less than ideal for the others. There were tears, verge of tears, and general frustration (thumbs down).

We called a do-over.

Today was filled with Insanity, an intense workout that started solo then became a spectator sport until my mother joined me (Bells and the Boyfriend provided "supportive" commentary). We went shopping for a few hours, got pedicures (even the Boyfriend), and then Bells and I headed to dinner with Legally Blonde.

We covered the basics: Bells' love life, how my recently widowed grandma is getting along, the concerts Legally Blonde had attended....

Then Legal's shirt sleeve rode up a little.

Me: "(Legal), did you get a tattoo?!"

He's got a big, black, tribal sign on his arm in celebration of his upcoming Big One Birthday. I think it has to do with fighting his age but, as I told him, I'm not sure what he's so worried about. My parents both look twenty years younger than they should and Blonde flat out is twenty years younger than you'd expect so really, I'm going to be surrounded by The Pretty People for a while. He seemed a bit miffed that I had noticed (as he pointed out, I'm so unobservant that I had to have the fact that they installed a deck on the front of our house pointed out to me) because Bells is itching for a tattoo and he's anti-inked-daughter (but if she has to, "Bones" at Southern Thunder does good work. Blonde agreed that he totally sounds like a worker at a strip club).

The rest of our conversation involved stripper tricks, the various ways Bells' friend's pets had died, and Legal's all-encompassing opinion of "Take that shiz* somewhere else!".

This is my family. We're non-traditional, irreverent, and hell is given to all. But if you could have seen us through the past nine years, you'd understand why being able to laugh together is one of the greatest gifts we've got.

*C'mon.