Happy Birthday C

Today is my handsome boyfriend's 21st birthday.  I wish so so badly that I could have spent this day with him, but unfortunately, school in Maryland got in the way of that.  

I can't believe he is already 21. It seems like just yesterday I spent hours creating a giant 17-shaped birthday card to put on the front seat of his new car, praying he would view my efforts as a clue I wanted to date him.  

By the time he turned 18, we were completely, officially boyfriend and girlfriend ;) Being the dedicated girlfriend I am, I planned a surprise party for my loverboy at his friend's shore house.  I put him in my car without telling him where we were going, headed south on the Parkway and pulled off at a rest stop where I blindfolded him so he couldn't predict the destination! (Later he told me he got really nervous at this point, because he thought I was taking him to a strip club...) I made him wear the blindfold until we stepped through the front door - He was more than surprised, and it was certainly a night to remember. 

For his 19th birthday I put him on a north-bound train without telling him where we were going. (I guess I forgot that I had similarly surprised him the year prior.) Half way through our train ride I gave him a birthday card with a clue to where we were going: NYC's ESPN Zone.  We ate the most delicious burgers before we competitively challenged each other to every game inside the 'zone' -- for the record, I won every time we played the basketball.  Once we got tired enough we walked down broadway to JR's for some decadent cheesecake.  The night was perfect. 

For his ascent out of teenaged years into adulthood, I took C to the Liberty Science Center - a magical place for the kid at heart that he is.  After we explored the science center (and after C almost got in a couple fist fights with children half his age and size over whose turn it was to use the machines) we met his sisters at Barnum & Bailey's Circus! He had never been to the Circus, and what better way to celebrate a birthday than petting the elephants (his favorite animal) eating junk food and pretending like we weren't growing up.  

This year, we had to celebrate slightly early due to the fact that we would be in different states on the actual day he turned 21.  I drove home to take him out to dinner at a small Italian restaurant by our house where he ate hearty portions of an appetizer, a main pasta dish, and two desserts (his only request for his birthday was to have ice cream. check.)  Afterwards we went to the movies. The night may have been low key but I don't think I wanted it any other way.  It's our third year lasting in a long-distance relationship and the only thing I want to do when I get the chance to be with him is relax and enjoy his company without distractions. While this may have been the least creative date-wise, I think I did a pretty good job getting him gifts - twenty-one to be exact.  Ranging from a bottle of Captain Morgan's Rum to a Lacoste Polo to a motorized helicopter toy, he chuckled every time I made him open presents, in order, from #1-21.  

This weekend he will come to College Park and we shall celebrate like a 21 year old should! A party bus, a club in DC, and a ton of friends will be present to celebrate C's legality.  I couldn't be more excited for him to come down to Maryland and to see him for the second weekend in a row. 

It's hard to believe we're growing up, but I wouldn't want to be doing it with anyone else.  I love you Christopher and I hope you remember these celebrations as fondly as I do xoxo