Leaving on a jet plane

Tomorrow, I'm flying to San Jose, CA. I was just there last weekend. Actually I was there for 16 hours to attend a surprise birthday party for my best friend since college. Both she and I were certain her husband would blow off-or simply blow it-making plans for her 40th, but he amazed us, everyone really. Catered dinner, birthday cake from the same bakery who had made their wedding cake, invites to a variety of friends and family who flew in from New York, Boston, Atlanta and Portland (moi!). The guy put many husbands, mine included, to shame.

You see, my big 4-0 was a bust. The highlight of the day was a call from my best friend who was on a business trip in Manila. Thank goodness for satellite cellphones and Kleenex. It wasn't the age bothering me. It was the fact my husband hadn't planned anything even though my friend had been on him for months. Me, too. He didn't even have the common sense to buy me something really nice to make up for it. Needless to say, it wasn't a good day or week until my best friend extraordinaire flew up from the Bay Area and surprised me by knocking on the door. She wanted to celebrate and salvage my turning 40. She had less than 24 hours to spend in Oregon, but it was fantastic and included lots of fun girly stuff and presents -a gorgeous freshwater pearl necklace from Manila and a DVD of Drumline (we were in band together).

So when she asked if I would spend her birthday weekend with her, I didn't hesitate, even though I'd just purchased a plane ticket for the weekend before. But I figured this ticket could be a 40th birthday present for both of us!