I am so grateful for this man. He just left for a two week trip and I miss him already.
A few weeks ago we spent the weekend celebrating 31 years of his life. We ended up having three different parties for him with three different cakes! On Friday we kicked everything off by having a cookout at his sister's house where she made him a lemon raspberry cake. She knows him so well. :) We enlisted a good friend to watch Sunday that night and we went out to a concert. We are always going to concerts on Tommy's birthday weekend (it's his favorite thing in the world)… but in the past we've mostly gone to see the Counting Crows in Northern VA. Well, we LOVE Old Crow Medicine Show and as soon as I found out they were playing locally the weekend of his birthday I bought tickets. This concert was much more low key, but Tommy's taste in music favors low-key concerts. He loves that type of musical environment.
Needless to say, the show was awesome!! The Lumineers opened for OCMS and performed a great set. Then of course OCMS came on and did not disappoint. I really enjoy going to concerts with Tommy. It is so easy for us to leave all our worries at the door and walk in and let the music fill our minds. It is such a wonderful time… I love, love experiencing that with him.
Saturday was his ACTUAL birthday. Sometime mid-day I locked him back in our room while I set up his gift:
There are supposed to be 31 bottles of beer here (got the idea from this site) but somehow even with three people having their input and doing their own calculations, we still ended up with 29 bottles. #fail Anyway, Tommy is a fan of beer and made 20+ batches of his own up until Sunday was born. Since Sunday has been here he has laid off of spending so much money on this hobby (habit?). So I went all out and got all of the beer for him that he probably wouldn't buy with his own money. I had to call in the experts and with the help of some really great friends I think the gift was a success! (He is kind of a beer snob so it was vital that he enjoy every single beer I picked out!)
The rest of the weekend was spent with lots of family. We had a Sunday brunch with Tommy's parents and then dinner at his favorite restaurant (Outback!) with the coolest birthday cake ever. (If I do say so myself!) My friend Penny is starting a cake baking business and made this awesome Hokie cake for Tommy! The detail was so awesome and I love the way she ran with the Hokie theme. Look there are even helmet stickers on the Hokie bird! Love love.
I think by the time the weekend wrapped up, Tommy was feeling super loved. He is super loved. I have grown to need and enjoy him every day. I remember being younger and thinking "I don't want to NEED anyone." But, in marriage, it's good to need one another. It's a partnership. A partnership I wouldn't want to share with anyone else in the world.
I love you, Tommy!!