Who Would EVER Buy THAT? (Choking On My Words)

I am 29. Half-a-year ago, I wondered how much anxiety my internal self would experience on the actual milestone date.  Frankly, on my birthday, from the moment I woke up I didn't have time to waste with having anxiety concerning my "oldness".  I had other matters on my mind.  To understand WHY, you need a bit of background.

Background Info #1:  I hate Sasquatch & Aliens, because there is an ever present part of me (sometimes overwhelmingly large/sometimes extremely small) that truly believes BOTH are real.  Remember this post?

Background Info #2:  There is this little shop on the side of Highway 260 that sells hideous wood carvings of aliens, and other ODD sorts of items that I turn my nose up to.  "Gah!  Who would EVER buy THAT?"  I say as we drive past it.

Now that you know, you can easily imagine my DELIGHT when on the morning of my TWENTY-NINTH birthday, I woke up to THIS:

 

My personal martian "CAME IN PEACE" with birthday wishes and all, but it's possible I stood at the top of the stairs looking down on him, with hands on my hips, as I spoke to my parents in the garage:

 

"That's not funny.  I can't believe you actually spent MONEY on THAT!!!!  HOW MUCH did you pay for it?" I demanded.

 

Mom just laughed and Dad said, "It doesn't matter.  Mom's been planning on buying you one for a LONG time.  Happy Birthday!"

 

 

 

It took me a bit, but I eventually warmed up to my "little green man".  My son, Miles, has liked him from the beginning, since they're essentially the same size.

 

 

My birthday truly was "OUTTA THIS WORLD" as my new friend, whom we have named MARTY, predicted.  My mom thought I wasn't going to take him home with me, so my brother & his friends wrapped him up like ET and put him in my Grandma's closet.  Haha!  Oh, how I wish I had a picture of that.  However, we couldn't leave this treasure behind. 

 

My son, Emmett likes to put glasses on the martian, and climb on him.

 

 

 

Our first prank of all happened within a week of my new favorite possession.  Karly had suggested that we watch the movie FIRE IN THE SKY while we were still in the small town of Heber.  Of course she & my brother, Heber, and all of their friends, Jodi, Biscuit, Ryan, Ian, and Payton, were all up for it.  I truly did have a STELLAR birthday (of which I'll post the other amazing pics of later).  But while I was okay with waking up to an alien, ending the day with aliens was an entirely different concept to me, and I was NOT IN THE MOOD for that on my birthday.  Fortunately the Netflix download didn't work so I didn't have to suffer through a scary movie or hide in another room for 2 hours, and we all played cards instead. 

 

SO, a week later the teenagers all reunited at Karly's house to watch the movie they were jipped on watching.  They still thought my alien was wrapped in blankets in my Grandma's closet, but we had him & couldn't resist the fun.  We essentially dropped my brother off for the hang-out, and then we set our timer for 45 minutes later so we wouldn't get caught sneaking around their house.  Finally the time came and Mitch strapped our alien in the car (I had to take a pic first).  Then the boys & I hopped in the back, and we all drove it to Karly's house in the middle of their movie night to leave it on the doorstep with a sign that said,

"Stay away from phone booths,

or YOU'RE NEXT!"

 

It was classic.  Who would have ever thought that I would end up the proud owner of a wooden, hand-carved, alien, from the notorious little shop of creatures that I have previously loved to despise?  The birthday joke my family played on me really was a funny one, but let me tell you:

 

"THE FUN HAS JUST BEGUN!"