Birthday Boy

As my thirty-sixth birthday approached, I realized that once again, I wasn't going to have a special man to spend my day with; Zane had recently started seeing someone - good for him - and the already miniscule dating pool in my area seemed hellbent on excluding me. Whytt had initially requested a raincheck on our date but later admitted that he didn't have time for a relationship; after almost two months it became clear that that was a dead end. While it did make me sad to know that with each passing year, the chances of me finding a special someone were growing slimmer and slimmer, I had come to the point where I had begun to accept my fate. After all, would a life of solitude with my cats really be so bad? There would be no forced visits with my significant other's parents, no days I'd have to take off from work for things that I didn't particularly care about, and most importantly, there would be no sacrifice of my free time and I wouldn't have to miss out on any extra time with the true loves of my life: my cats.

I knew that my family wouldn't be able to do anything extravagant for my birthday; my mom was tied up with my brother - four hours away in Indiana - and the family was in the area were all either in poor health or working. My grandma always tried to make the day special for me, but she had recently been deemed mentally incompetent and was angrily stewing in a nursing home, too stubborn to see that being at home was no longer a viable option: if her dementia weren't bad enough, she was no longer able to get up and go to the bathroom without assistance. My aunt Julie told me that she and my cousin Megan had discussed having a get-together for my aunt Audrey and I - her birthday was four days before mine - but timing had just not aligned. My feelings weren't hurt; I understood how draining day to day life could be and how my limited availability - Mondays - didn't work for most people. If I was being perfectly honest, after five months of six days a week of working, I was perfectly content sleeping in and spending the day in bed with my cats.

Back in September, my friend Pam had revealed that Beetlejuice the Musical was coming to the Midland Center for the Arts; she offered to take me for my birthday, but as it turned out, the show wouldn't be coming to the area until April. Being the genius that she is, Pam concocted a plan that was sure to satisfy me: the Cozy Cats Café in Sanford. Unlike with Beetlejuice I wouldn't even have to take a day off of work.

As I learned, the Cozy Cats Café offered cats for adoption. I knew that I honestly didn't need another at - I already had six - but the idea of getting a new baby for my birthday did thrill me; that would certainly be a Gotcha Day that I'd never forget. Thankfully, Pam asked when she called to make the reservation; the adoption process was not spontaneous: the cats were $200 and would require multiple visits to ensure that it was a good fit. I certainly would not be driving to Sanford once - let alone multiple times - nor would I spend $200 on a cat, especially when there was an adorable nine-week-old Manx boy in Midland that would only cost $70.

I wasn't ecstatic about having to be up and ready to leave by 11:30, but I appreciated that Pam was doing her best to ensure that I had a great birthday. Even less pleasant that the time was the temperature: eighty-0ne degrees! One of the perks of having a mid-October birthday was always the lower temperatures, but it seemed the universe was conspiring against me and ensuring one last heatwave while summer was in its death-throes.

I carefully selected a birthday outift that would be stunning but casual; I opted for my Brain Dead Toni t-shirt, black skinny jeans, and white Converse. I finished the look off with my Versace sunglasses and my gray Member's Only jacket. Something told me that luxury fashion was a little much for the Cozy Cats Café, plus I didn't want my designer clothes to be dirtied by cat hair or risk getting any snags from the cat's claws.

Pam had teased multiple stops on our itinerary. The café didn't open until one o'clock, so we had an hour and a half to get to Sanford and make our first stop. As it turned out, our first stop was a bakery in Midland to get some Babka - a Jewish bread-cake made with chocolate or cinnamon. It was basically a fancy Jewish cinnamon roll. One of the - many - downsides of my area was the lack of Jewish people; the nearest synagogue was a forty-minute drive - in Saginaw. The majority of Pinconning were Catholics and Baptists; the most exposure I'd gotten to Jewish culture was my two weeks in New York. Pam was a huge fan of the cinnamon kugel I had made a couple of times, but I didn't make it often as it was not conducive to my goals of being thin.

Our next stop was the Pizza Dude in Midland. My boss owned the Pizza Dude in Pinconning and rented the one in Midland; his girlfriend, Jess was the manager of the Midland store. I hadn't seen much of her since she'd left my store to go run that one. Part of me was jealous that she got the fancy store, but seeing it for the first time, I was relieved that it was much smaller than I'd thought. I'd heard the word Midland and assumed it was a fancy, opulent building, when in reality, it was much smaller than my store - the biggest of my boss's three businesses. It was nice to see Jess for more than two seconds when she was dropping product off or picking it up.

I had only been to Midland a few times since I'd moved out of my grandma's house in 2021; it was always a weird experience for me, as I had often gone there with my grandma, driving her to her doctor's appointments or to the hospital for bloodwork or emergencies. Being there without her was bittersweet and made me miss the days when she had still been herself and I had had the comfort of knowing that no matter what happened, she was there for me and would have my back.

As we pulled into the Cozy Cats Café, I noticed that the WNEM-5 News van in the driveway. "The news is here," I muttered, confused. Why would the news be at a cat café? What could possibly have happened at a cat café that would be newsworthy?

"I told them it was your birthday," Pam replied, killing the engine of her Jeep.

I knew that she had not called the news, nor was it likely that the café had either, at least not for my birthday. "What, are they here because I actually left my apartment in the daytime? The world can see that I exist?" I teased, getting out of the Jeep.

"That's newsworthy!" Pam laughed.

I decided to text my mom and act like I actually thought that Pam had engineered the whole thing. But why? my mom asked via text, because you're obsessed with cats?

Once we were inside, we were greeted by one of the owners, a middle-aged guy. He held out three pairs of cat ears and told me to pick a pair. I instantly felt my anxiety flare up. I wanted to pick the pair with the glittery pink ears, but I didn't want him to judge me; a part of me will always be afraid to be too gay in public. Thankfully, Pam stepped in and picked the pair I wanted for me.

One of the other owners, a woman named Crystal, announced that the news was there covering the recent theft that occurred and asked if we were okay with being filmed by the news crew: ever the diva, I readily agreed, though I couldn't help but wonder who stole from a cat café? What was stolen - cats? Food? As it turned out, a ladder and some cans had been stolen from the yard outside the shelter, which made a lot more sense.

We were led into the cat room. I found a seat by the window, loving the feeling of the warm sun beaming on my skin through the window. Maybe I really did need to make more of an effort to get out on Mondays - during the day - to make sure that I got some sunlight. Sure, I drank Vitamin D milk frequently, but was that sufficient?

I immediately found myself petting and snuggling with a fluffy black cat. While the cat was cute and I liked petting it, I knew that it wasn't a cat that I would adopt. Eventually, the black cat got bored and moved on; I spent time with an orange and white tomcat - who was not very friendly - before switching to several of the other gray striped cats. When the news crew moved into the room, I made sure to remain focused on the cats, hoping that Crystal had not told them that it was birthday. The filming lasted a few minutes before the man left; we took the opportunity to move to the other side of the playroom, where several cats lounged in wooden cat houses mounted up on the walls. I loved the layout of the place and admired the houses and wheels that offered entertainment for the cats. I sat on a gazebo chair petting a beautiful gray striped cat - a lighter version of my Asher and Prue - before we decided to head out.

On the way home, I did half of an edible, determined to relax and enjoy what was left of my birthday. I knew that I wouldn't feel up to going out again, nor was I interested in doing much besides lounging in bed and reading or gaming; I hadn't been high in over a month, since I'd run out of edibles. I was excited to relax and enjoy a movie and my Babka.

As soon as I walked in the door, I was rushed by my cats - initially happy that their daddy was home, but that was quickly replaced by curiosity as the scents of the other cats filled their nostrils. I casually changed into pajamas - leaving the clothes out so my cats could smell them - before I climbed into bed with a box of Cheez Its and some Powerade. I decided to watch Heartstopper: Forever again since I loved it so much and I thought it would impact me even more as my edible kicked in.

I made it maybe twenty-five minutes into the movie before I felt my eyelids growing heavy. I'd gone to bed around three AM and had woken up at ten forty-five. Even a cup of coffee wasn't enough to combat my bone-deep fatigue. I closed my eyes, surrendering to the darkness.

It was almost nine PM when I woke up. Feeling drained, I turned on the season four premier of Sex and the City, "The Agony and the Ex-Tacy" - my yearly birthday watch. As soon as it was over, I turned on Scream 4 - my horror movie for the night. I realized that despite only having a bite of my Babka and maybe a quarter of a bag of Cheez Its, I wasn't really hungry. Normally, I'd make myself a box of Rice-A-Roni for dinner, but I didn't want to get up, let alone deal with cooking and dishes. In the end, I opted for the slice of vanilla cake I'd gotten at Meijer - and a big glass of milk.

All in all, it was a very relaxed birthday. Pam was a genius for finding a cat café for us to go to; if there's one thing in life I love more than anything, it's cats. As the day wound down, I realized that it would perfectly okay for me to have a special guy to spend my birthday with, but in reality, that was just an added bonus. I had a friend who had gone out of her way to make sure that my day was special, that I had the most fun I could - within reason. Maybe life is less about romance and sex and more about the people in your life who are there - and love you - no matter what. Maybe we should focus less on the pursuit of true love and focus more on the love - in all of its shapes - that already inhabit our lives.