On My Birthday

Saturday was my birthday.  It was a day filled with pictures drawn by special little people in my life, little treasures and surprises, like birthday coupons for kids doing the hand dishes and practicing piano without complaining.  We squashed into Dr. Peds’ pickup truck to fetch a tree from the forest (he was SO excited to use the pickup truck to haul Christmas trees) and picked up breakfast from our favorite restaurants on the way.  Later that day our neighbors took in all of our progeny while Dr. Peds and I left town for an overnight trip to see the St. Olaf Christmas concert in Northfield.  It was beautiful.

The very best part of the day was during a moment of down time in the afternoon.  I was dressed for the concert.  Dr. Peds and Mr. SP had gone to get pizzas to take to our neighbor’s house to feed the onslaught of children.  Just a few kidlets were left at home, and I was sitting on the couch in the cabin room.  I smelled a faint whiff of cat pee.  Our cat has been having issues over the past few months, peeing places when he’s angry.  He’s caused a lot trouble.  One of his favorite tricks is to pee on the dirty laundry that comes down the laundry shoot in the basement.  It usually works out OK because the laundry gets washed, but sometimes you will put something on and it will still smell a bit bad because it needs a second washing.  It’s not always that noticeable at first.  So, I thought maybe I had put on some clothes that needed to be rewashed.  I started sniffing my shirt, my sweater, my pants to make sure they were OK.

YaYa:  Why are you sniffing at yourself.

Me:  Well, I”m just making sure I don’t smell like cat pee.

The Banana:  (incredulously) But Mom, it’s your birthday!  You should be able to smell like cat pee if you want to!