Blah Birthday Greetings

So I turned an age, a great one if you think of it. And I spent it in one of my favorite cities nursing the flu. I would like to say I did something momentous to mark the occasion but nah! that was not to be this year. No matter how hard I tried, that one thing that would have set this year's birthday apart, that extra jolt of fun just did not happen. 

It all started when my family said they would not vacation the same time as my birthday, meaning I had to go it alone. You would think this is good news since I am the queen of going it alone but then I had no idea what I wanted to do. I was broke from going to Las Vegas and New York back to back so I really had no business going anywhere. But then I thought, "It's my birthday, why spend it in Atlanta which I loathe, go somewhere you love, you deserve it." 

I chose LA. 3 days in Manhattan Beach and 4 days in Laguna Beach. With no car. That meant a lot of beach walking and not a lot of shopping, and just a lot of cold weather enveloping me through those beach walks. Plus, along came the flu and swept whatever little fun I would have had all away. 

I'm sitting here thinking how do I describe it to people who are hoping on me to have loads of fun. How do I embellish it, make it seem as if it were something more than it was. I don't know. I cannot really say. It was what it was. All I can say is, I suppose I deserve it because truly I had no business vacationing so soon after NY/Las Vegas, it was just very selfish and childish, plus I should have planned it better, not bought the plane tickets on a whim. Most importantly, I had started this "thing" with this guy so I should have really stayed in Atlanta and worked that shit out with him instead of vamoosing. For men, out of sight is out of mind, so stay put so you can drive them nuts. 

Instead of dwelling on the bad: the flu, all the money spent, the lack of planning, the lack of spontaneous fun, the dreary weather in Laguna Beach, the lack of transportation, the suburban lodgings, instead of all that I shall recount the good. 

a) I got away from Atlanta for some much needed rest and some palm trees

b) Hopefully, absence makes the heart grow fonder for me as opposed to "out of sight..."

c) Now, I can count Laguna Beach as one of my visited cities. (never to return, sorry :-()

d) I got an enviable tan

e) Spent some time in prayer, in church and reflecting on the way forward.

f) Got to spend the birthday at the beach and that is just so...awesome. The tanned surfers were a nice touch too.

The fact of the matter is sometimes single people don't have all the fun. Sometimes, we just exist. We, the brave few go on vacations by ourselves and just sit there imbibing, partaking, absorbing, eavesdropping, just patiently being ignored, and just, existing. It's not so much fun for us, but it's a part of our lives. And sometimes, on few occasions, every so once in a while, we have fun. Unfortunately for me this wasn't one of those times, but I'll get 'em next time.