Not your normal Friday Wrapup - it's CB's birthday!

Usually on Friday’s I do a Friday Funday Wrapup. But today isn’t a normal Friday – it’s CB’s birthday! So obviously we need to honor this momentous occasion properly, and what better way to do that than by blogging all about him so that he shakes his head, rolls his eyes, and turns up the baseball game? Also, if we can embarrass him a little, that’d be great. Oh, he’s going to be so excited.

I’ve been lucky enough to know CB for 6 years, and I think it goes without saying that he was a smitten kitten from day one. Obviously. But he hid it really, really well for about 5 years. You see, he was the first person I met at my former job because we happened to sit right next to each other. But since I was in a relationship and he was, you know, a stud, our paths didn’t cross much more than the “Good morning’s” and “have a good night’s” that all polite co-workers enjoy. However, as the months wore on and he got used to my shrill voice and ongoing stories about a lot of stuff he didn’t care about, a friendship began to emerge.

Without a doubt, though, our turning point happened about a year and a half later. I was experiencing some heartache and I decided to share that with him, which I’m pretty sure he was super-happy to hear about since all guys love to stand there awkwardly while you cry about a boy. But in true CB fashion, he handled it in the most perfect way possible: by buying me a chocolate milkshake at 8:30 in the morning. He does know me well.

And as the years wore on, we found ourselves spending more friend time together, which usually included some heavy drinking with his family and friends – always a good time – and training for half and full marathons. If you ask him, it was less painful to train and run two half and two full marathons than it was to sit next to me and listen to me ask him when he was going to sign up.

To be fair, he’s right. Also, does anyone feel bad for him now that you know that he totally knew what he was getting himself into YEARS ago? I thought not.

But somehow, during all of those hours of running and talking and drinking and laughing, we started to figure each other out. He figured out that I dehydrate after 2 minutes and would show up at the start line with an extra Gatorade for me. Probably because he didn’t want to be responsible for me dying on his watch, but still. He figured out that feeding me is key and would always get extra pickles and fries to give me at lunch, since I obviously have a very refined palette. And he figured out that half the time, when I speak, he doesn’t need to respond. And he also figured out when the other half of the time was, and filled in those gaps, too.

On the flip side, I figured out that he gets cranky when he’s not fed at normal intervals and that I’ve never met anyone who can run with a hangover like this guy. It’s sort of amazing. I also figured out that he has a heart of gold and was one of the kindest, most honest, most genuine people I’d ever met. Also, that you really shouldn’t talk to him before 10am. Like, ever. All very important lessons.

And eventually we took all of those hours, all of those lessons, all of the tears and sweat and laughter and fun and decided we kind of liked that package. So we rolled with it. And we’re still rollin’. And I’m so happy to get to celebrate his birthday with all of you blog readers!

See, CB?? I totally didn’t slander you. Or take artistic license with the truth.  ALL things, by the way, that he’s accused me of since this blogging thing began. And all lies, obviously. Especially since everyone knows that he was totally a smitten kitten on day one and I would never make that up.

Happy birthday, CB!