older.

happy birthday, david!  while it's not quite april 9th in costa rica or california (or apparently, on this blog...), we are deep enough into your birthday here in michigan that i feel comfortable announcing you're a decade older than me (at first glance, for the next 3.5 months).  hard to believe that the tiny alien on the left grew into the dashing young man on the right, but indeed it's the case.

for those of you who don't know, david surprised me for my last birthday by taking me skydiving (bold surprise, i know...), so i've got a tough act to follow.  fortunately, in just a few short days i'll be joining him in a magical land full of fun/terrifying activities, so i'm sure i'll figure something out that i can present as a birthday gift while discreetly checking another adrenaline high off my own list.  

here i am prepping for my dive, and that limp body attached to a parachute is david demonstrating his mad skills:

                         

as a quick aside--i highly recommend this activity, even if it isn't currently on your list of things to do before you die.  pencil it in.  then trace over that pencil with a sharpie.  all the work is done for you--you have only one task:  get pushed out of an airplane and feel more exhilarated than you ever have or ever will (until you dive again).  the whole experience is amazing, though one must be prepared for raindrops in the stratosphere (or whatever atmospheric layer one is in at 10,000 feet).  as my instructor astutely put it as i massaged the welts all over my face and neck when we landed (amid maniacal giggling), the feeling resembles a nail gun to the face.  it of course stopped raining the second david jumped out of the airplane.

i've been pestering david for weeks to alert people to the blog, but now that he's cast a rather wide net, i realize i'll have to clean up (and shorten up) the posts a bit...i vow to try my best to know my audience and write accordingly.  i understand that not everyone is as tickled to learn, for example, that david brushes my teeth for me as his mom, jeannette (better audience.) is, who has pledged to check this blog every hour.  we don't expect nearly that commitment from other readers (including my own mother, who made her disdain over the toothbrushing issue clear this evening).

so, before i get carried away again, let me part ways by asking everyone to join me in using yet another electronic medium to wish a very, very happy birthday to david!  have a wonderful day full of sol and cerveza.  three more days and i'll be joining you...