Too Many Moving Parts on a Monday Night

Punchy's birthday gathering with some close family and friends fell this Monday night. I know a birthday is a special gift, and 17 is a special number. We remember some birthdays all of our lives. But for tonight, too many moving pieces, and stress.

Instead of ordering pizzas, now pricy, still carb-heavy, fattening, nonvegan for Fig--and our teen and her friends have them too often for a balanced life--we made a simple dinner. But it missed the mark. 

Dan did his garlic bread with EVOO instead of butter or a mix of both, to accommodate vegan Figgy. For some reason, not so great (it usually is). I tried a new brand of Italian sausage, Italian chicken sausage. It tasted weird, even browned and served in good Rao's marinara sauce. We almost ran out of tortellini. Since that has cheese, I made plain pasta for Fig and meatless sauce for her and Dan. Most of us took steamed broccoli on our plates, including me, and then didn't eat it. 

Even the expensive Muenster and Gouda from Kings were just....nothing to write home about. How can Gouda miss the mark?! The kitchen drain was clogged and Dan got out the plunger. The small, vegan, dairy-free Daiya key lime "cheezecake" from Whole Foods freezer--that was good.

Dan made the classic Baked Alaska/Alexa for Punch's bday but...don't ask. For years, he has mastered the three-layer extravaganza, but it takes planning and meringue can be finicky, and sense the baker's stress and haste. His Mom is failing, the six-sibling care plan is hard, our car broke down again, he's waiting to hear back from his agents on his book proposal, etc. etc. He had to drive Punchy's friend all the way back to her family's apartment in Fort Lee, unexpectedly. He took Fig's car, but that will end when she moves out later this month.

So we pared back to tighten our purse strings but it didn't reduce our stress. We pared back on gifts, too, but Punchy still liked the ones we got, including two potted hyacinths, one deep Easter purple, one pure white, because she loves their fragrance. Her big sister Figgy came through with the coveted white gift, Apple AirPods. This is Punch's third pair since sixth grade, the first pair stolen in middle school, the second pair lost. Fig said if she really wanted them, she would not get her a Christmas gift but get these for her birthday and she kept her word. Generous and true.

For the most part, except for me and Dan, who are human, after all, and quite imperfect, family and friends did not miss the mark nor did the two cute pets. We're all human. And I am fully aware that though this night proceeded in fits and starts, we are all still lucky to have each other, and the bday girl still enjoyed it. She said thank you several times. 

Good night.