A Birthday Unlike Any Other

Summer 2000, near my 19th birthday.

Remember that Sesame Street tune that starts,"One of these things is not like the others"? That's what this birthday feels like compared to all that came before.

Although I turn 32 today, that's not what's on my mind. Instead, I'm thinking about how this is my last week in New York and that Paul is starting his new job in Ohio today. Until he returns to Brooklyn on Friday for one final weekend in New York, it's just Edith and me.

But I refuse to be down in the dumps on my birthday -- or at least I'll do everything I can to climb my way out. So I'm determined to have a different dessert each day this week. Maybe it's one I've known and loved. Maybe it's one I've been meaning to try. Either way, I'll definitely be using lots of chocolate and ice cream to try to smother my sorrows (and you'll definitely be seeing blog posts about New York City desserts well into August!).

I know, I know: Woe is me. Even I can't feel too sorry for myself after six wonderful years in New York. Still, it's no girl's dream to be without her significant other in the middle of a heat wave on her birthday.

By this age, a birthday should be just another day, shouldn't it? And this year it almost felt that way. We've had so much going on -- specifically packing, packing and more packing -- that it only flashed across my mind that my birthday was so soon just a few times this past week.

Ideal or not, it's definitely a birthday to remember.