Surprise!

On Saturday various friends, in conspiracy with my wife, threw me a surprise 30th birthday party. I don't believe I've been the victim recipient of a surprise party before, but once I recovered from a few brief moments of "What the hell is Nova Jacobs doing at this bowling alley in Glendale where we are supposed to be meeting Stacey's cousins?" and realized that there were a whole slew of people there who didn't belong in a bowling alley in Glendale, and furthermore they had a banner with my name on it, I had quite a great time.

The best thing about it was seeing all of the people, especially the ones I don't get a chance to see very often. The USC tribe has split to the (literal) corners of the country now, and even those of us still in Los Angeles don't see each other very often.

The merriment was especially welcome considering the extent to which thirty years old is kicking my ass right now. (Or will be as soon as it comes to pass, to whit, in twelve days.) Birthdays in general, but milestone birthdays in particular, amount to referenda on life to date. While surely any such long-view survey of my life would reveal an unthinkably blessed constellation of what-have-you from left to right and top to bottom, I have been unable recently to snap myself out of a near obsession with notable lack of success in one or two areas that are looming large in the windshield right now.

But in any case and be that as it may, I am given to understand that Jeremy Bernstein is responsible for a lion's share of the birthday event, and for his efforts I am humbled and grateful. Stacey also labored and deceived in equal measure to see the event done; I love her impossibly. Let us, then, offer a special jefftidball.com toast to both of them.

---

Comments

Dude. You are (soon to be) 30 years old. You are alive, in good health, have a beautiful, loving wife, a dog, a house, a degree. You have friends that throw you surprise parties. You have other friends who are willing (though some of us aren't able) to trek half-way across the country to help celebrate the milestone.

Success? Please.

Seconded!

Jeff Tidball -- 30. Young at heart, wise beyond his year. Ooops, that sounds like an epitaph. How about "Happy Birthday?"

Name:

Email Address:

URL:
Remember me? YesNo

Comments: (You may use HTML tags for style)