In the spirit of celebrating my birthday as many times as humanly possible (no, seriously, it’s been obscene this year), I’m going to tell you all the story of Birthday Adam.
When I was in college, I studied abroad in London the spring of my junior year, and it was truly one of the most incredible, life-changing experiences I’ve ever had. Learning how to travel on a shoestring budget, exploring London’s museums, parks and pubs, interning and getting my first real exposure to the professional world…those four months still seem fairy tale-like to me. One small drawback, though, was how anticlimactic turning 21 in a country where the legal drinking age was 18 seemed. (Hi, first-world problems, right?)
My flatmate Kelly and her friend Katie had perhaps the most ingeniously delightful way to make birthdays seem a bit more special…rather than just celebrating once on the actual day, they turned it into a three-day affair! See, you have your birthday…and then of course there’s your birthday eve, which isn’t much of a stretch to celebrate. But in all their Catholic-college creativity, of course they thought about the fact that in the Bible, Adam comes before Eve. Logically, therefore, a birthday Adam should come before a birthday “Eve,” right?
And so we celebrated Birthday Adams two days before the actual birthday, usually with some kind of small sweet treat (my favorite, above, from a darling bakery called Candy Cakes!) and a glass of cheap, shitty Tesco wine (drunk out of coffee cups or tumblers, of COURSE we didn't have wineglasses!). It was delightful, and I always kind of smile to myself when I think about it. So today is my birthday Adam, and I’ll be celebrating with some kind of treat and a less cheap, less shitty glass of wine.
Here’s to celebrating all month long!