So it's here. The biggest birthday yet. Do I have mixed feelings? Excitement? Anxiety? Terror? Yep. But somewhere in that jumble is gratitude. Aside from instantly gaining independent wealth that allows me to take my friends on a European vacation, I can't think of a better way to spend my birthday. I'll be performing two shows of The Fantasticks and five of my very best friends are coming in from all over the country.We could be our own sitcom, this motley crew...or at least a weird reality show that would never be dramatic enough for today's standards. You've got the soulful and fiercely independent thinking actress and personal-emo-blogger from Raleigh, NC who grew up with a Whoopi Goldberg complex and never fails to make anyone laugh at a moment's notice. There's the Carolina girl who's become a DC-based jet-setter, working at the Pentagon, always in gorgeous dresses and suits with fabulous shoes, the center of a fight between British officers at embassy dinners--who will get to buy her that next drink? The reluctant-to-admit-it Cincy native, a George Washington graduate currently pursuing her PhD in Physiology at the University of Cincinnati, struggling to assert herself among the scientists in her lab without being discounted for being the pretty chick in the room (She's serious! She's also brilliant! Look at those GLASSES!). Don't forget the sound and light designer and technician who recently relocated back to her Nashville home--the girl who hates wearing dresses almost upon penalty of death, but has way cuter belts than you'd ever have and loves romantic movies almost as much as she loves her dog. Don't forget the male among the weekend's ranks--my roommate in the city, the tattooed and smirking copy writer for Urban Outfitters who's studying sketch comedy at Upright Citizen's Brigade and wondering exactly where that Master's degree in Religion is gonna fit in.
Somewhere in there is me, the girl at the end of her 20's, the once-youth ministry director, the again-vegetarian, the as-of-late distance runner, and the now-and-into-the-future (often musical-) theatre actress who'd rather walk her dog 4 miles, take a yoga class and cook an organic vegetable-based dinner and talk and laugh with the friends she made it for than just about anything else.
We're all here in Cincinnati this weekend, the dear loves of my life are traveling hundreds of miles to see me in my first Equity lead at a major regional theatre, and to celebrate my life with me. There will be waffles at Findlay Market, they're all coming to the matinee tomorrow and the "actor meal" between shows, a party of some sort happens tomorrow night, there's "BFF brunch" on Sunday, and I believe we're concluding it all with Flight of the Conchords, 30 Rock, and probably too many snacks at my apartment after the two shows on Sunday. Not such a bad way to leave your 20's. I make light of these folks by giving bite-sized character descriptions of them, but see, the gorgeous and hilarious NC-based actress is always available at the other end of my phone or facebook at all hours of the night, no matter where we are in the world. The jet-setter and I are sometimes closer than family, we've been dear friends since we were in elementary school, I haven't laughed more with anyone in my life, and no one appreciates a Lemon Bar like she does. The PhD student seems like half of my soul living in another person--no one else gets the importance of a good beard, a soulful singer songwriter with a guitar, and an endless coffee and cookies session more than this girl. Technician-Girlfriend screams with me when I need it, appreciates what's truly ridiculous in the world around us, and knows that loving your dog an insane amount isn't. The writer-roommate is one of the next-to-the-last-true-romantics out there, and his cynical jokes (including the fist-bumping dirty ones), John Cusack delivery, and habit of feigning that he's void of emotion just make me (and all of his female friends, I'd wager) love him more. I couldn't be more thankful that they'll all be here in one place at the same time. I don't want anything else for my birthday.
And who needs to go on an expensive vacation, anyway, have you HAD those waffles?
