Not just another day

I celebrated my birthday on Tuesday by waking up at the crack of dawn, taking the subway downtown, hopping on a high-speed train to the airport, then standing around for an hour waiting for Miranda to appear. It took her a while due to fog and a slow baggage carousel, but she finally made it, and to my surprise she even looked happy. I didn't sprint through the airport to give her a hug, and I've caught some flack because of that, but even though I've tried to hide it, I have been incredibly excited and incredibly nervous regarding her arrival. Mostly excited to share my experiences with her, but also nervous that she'll be bored or that she won't like life in this city. She still hasn't told me what she thinks of the move, so even though I'll be thankful for every day she's here, I guess I'm going to remain nervous for every day she keeps me wondering.

Back to the birthday, I didn't learn anything about Swedish birthday traditions. I could have learend a lot, but I didn't tell anybody that it was my birthday. Miranda thought my coworkers already knew, so she didn't bring it up when she met them. Tricky, eh? We ended up spending some time walking through central Stockholm, got some basic groceries, spent a lot of time unpacking the stuff we sent in an air shipment (the movers were waiting when we got back from the airport), took a nap, then went out for a late meal. Most of the cafe's and restaurants were closing, so we settled for a familiar meal at McDonald's. We could have hit up a pub, but McDonald's sounded surprisingly good. We came back to enjoy a makeshift cake made of an apple-flavored breaksfast bread and 27 candles that Miranda was thoughtful enough to bring from home.

All in all, it was a good birthday. I would have preferred my traditional Pizza Haus birthday pizza to McDonald's, partially because I love the pizza, but also because Pizza Haus pizza means time at home with my family. It's one of the sacrifices I accepted when I signed on the dotted line, but even though I made the choice, I'm still allowed to miss a few things. Pizza Haus with my family is definitely one of those things I'm going to miss most.