And it feels...anticlimactic. I'm rather wary of getting too much older, for some reason.

I didn't ask for presents.

I asked for a velvet cake, but no one wanted one with red food coloring, gluten or refined sugar, no one wanted to risk trying to make one, and I was one of the only ones about to eat an actual red velvet cake, and that feels silly because I could easily get a cake wedge any week...and getting cake no one else will eat feels pointless on my birthday.

The one thing I did ask for, was a particular birthday dinner - our traditional family goulash, which will be nice. It's nothing close to authentic goulash - it's browned beef and pasta with a spicy sauce - but it's absolutely wonderful.