It was a perfect July day – sunny, but not painful, and warm, but not oppressively hot. A few classmates of mine had birthdays close by, so we combined them all into one big shindig; a day in the park, followed by a cookout at my apartment’s grill deck.
It was, simply put, lovely.
Fun, pleasant, fairly relaxed, and a lovely escape from classwork or job hunting. A chance to kick back and enjoy the sun, chat with friends, and just… chill. Just chill.
And hey – it started with a ladybug landing on my hand, so… win, right? Right!
For my Birthday, I relaxed. I know, crazy right? So different from my normal day-to-day life on this adventure.
Which is sarcasm, and actually made figuring out what to do for my birthday a bit challenging. I mean, I’ve been doing literally whatever I want, whenever I want, for two and a half months now. I haven’t been worried about deadlines, or project completion dates, or bills or planning flights or trains (with a few notable exceptions, of course). I’ve been having the time of my life, so how do I celebrate above and beyond that?
Well… I don’t worry about it, I guess.
I mean, okay. I could have scheduled a rock climbing guide. Or a SCUBA session, or countless other birthday adventures… but I didn’t quite feel like it. I was enjoying visiting with my Mom and Steve, going slow and enjoying the quiet pace of life in Cassis. I was feeling good, and I didn’t really feel the drive to go above and beyond.
So I didn’t.
We relaxed, had a lovely slow breakfast, and wandered around town a bit. We booked an early-evening massage for myself, and tracked down a nice spot that would have a fun dinner. I wandered out to the beach for lunch, solo-style, to just sit back and enjoy listening to the waves and the swimmers and the boats slicing by through the waves.
I had a good, quiet, French day. And I’m endlessly thankful for it.
I’d planned a simple and relaxing day – just hanging out, having a nice breakfast, catching up on things, gaming, and then doing a fun dinner with Jess in the early evening. On Tuesday, though, I’d aim to climb and have sushi! Climb hard, eat well, get lots of rest… not a bad start to a Birthday, right?
Bri and I climbed hard – I don’t remember details, but it was at the usual climbing gym, and I do recall that I put up a good number of routes… But what I do remember was sushi afterward!
We went to a spot that Jessie and I had been, ages back, called Yama. There, we ordered… basically everything. Quail eggs, sushi rolls, soup… I’d climbed hard, and it was my birthday.
