Well, that was a crummy birthday.

My birthday was Friday. That morning my cat was killed by a dog (as I blogged about previously). What a shitty day. I went to Community Circle at school, a very sweet monthly ritual that all the children attend. They sing, and the grades alternate spotlighting different students for various things, and talking about their expeditions. The singing is my favorite part, but I was feeling so emotional on Friday morning that the singing had me sobbing into a tissue.

I had planned to buy myself some shoes for my birthday with a DSW Shoe coupon I had, and I went, but my heart was so not in it. Some friends took me out for lunch, and late that afternoon I went for a pedicure, which I enjoyed, but the rest of the evening I spent feeling very tearful for Max, and I had a terrible headache to boot.

Saturday morning I went to advanced primary as planned, but I felt on the verge of tears and very fragile the entire time. It was crowded and with a student teacher who for some reason focused on me for her adjustments. It's indicative of my mood that I felt very picked-on instead of enjoying the adjustments. John took over when we got to seated, and he picked up the pace, and then threw in some extra stuff which he loves to do, like at Navasana, he had us all get up and form a line, then do sets of lunges back and forth across the room. Then we resumed the series with ten Navasanas and some core work, then on through the rest of the series to urdva dhanurasana, which I could barely manage because my legs were so fatigued from the lunges. Then he wanted us to hold our headstands for thirty breaths, then lift our heads off the floor. I really felt unable to cope with the challenge. During savasana, I put my towel over my eyes and had a little cry, and then felt better.

Today I am sore as hell from all those lunges.

Yesterday my sweet friend Gwen offered to take the boys for the evening so that Lee and I could go out for my birthday, so we took them to her house, then went to eat at a place we really like called Brick Store Pub. They have tons of obscure beers, especially Belgian ones, and we had sandwiches and beer. I got a dark Belgian seasonal ale that was yummy, also 10.5%, so after one of those I was feeling a bit looped. I also had a glass of, I forget what it's called, but it Belgian ale fermented in the champagne method. Very different, but delicious.

We headed back toward Gwen's, and on the way stopped in at a wine bar for another drink, then onto Gwen's, where we hung out with her and her husband and split a bottle of red wine while the boys finished watching "Home Alone".

This morning I didn't feel hung over exactly, but rather toxic.

We drove to Macon late this morning to take my mother-in-law out to lunch for her 85th birthday at Longhorn's Steakhouse. I had an overpriced steak salad and in the process of stealing one of Will's french fries, I dropped a huge glob of ketchup down the front of my white shirt.

My sister-in-law and her husband met us for lunch. She makes pottery, and she said she'd make us a nice little marker for Max's grave, plus one for our dog, who Max is buried next to.

I am feeling much better, but I do miss my kitty. I keep thinking I hear his tag jingling on his collar.