Friday, January 11, 2008

Happy Birthday Michy!


Tomorrow, the 12th, is Michele's birthday ... man, 44 -- that's pretty old for a baby sister. Then again, it's not as old as I thought she was last year.

As we recalled this afternoon when she fit me into her schedule for lunch, I was in the hospital on Mich's birthday last year. In fact I went in a year ago today, following another seizure, and was still there the next morning when Mich came to visit. I was a bit out of it, but I remembered what day it was and wished her a happy birthday. That made her happy, I think, but then, confused, I said something about her turning 45. Ouch!

I had a moment of confusion today too, but at least it didn't include making my sister out to be two years older than she is.

I suggested we go for a sushi lunch. Unfortunately, my first choice, the wonderful Mashiko in West Seattle, is open only for dinner, so I recommended a place Michelle and I used to visit from work sometimes: Sam's Sushi, in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood.

I picked Mich up at the Times and drove us to Fremont; it wasn't until we got there that I realized Sam's isn't in Fremont, but Ballard! Sheesh, I'm absolutely losing it. No biggie, except it's a slightly longer drive and I think I returned her to work a few minutes late for an afternoon budget meeting. Sorry, dude.

In between we had a fab lunch, chatting about movies and music and work and family, as we always do, and enjoying Sam's very good sushi. For dessert, in lieu of birthday cake, we walked across the street to Starbucks and split a birthday old-fashioned donut with our coffee. Yum.

I love sushi. Everything I needed to know about it I learned from Mom, whose motto when we were kids was, "You'll never know whether you like something unless you try it." Interestingly, that's also all I needed to know about Brussels sprouts, and also corned beef and cabbage.

Anyway, lunch was great. Mich seems really good, and I feel really lucky to have such a cool sister. I think we'd be great friends even if we weren't related.

Here's a sample of Sam's fine fare:

8 comments:

Kate Cohen said...

Happy Birthday Mich -- and mmm sushi

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday Mich -- and mmm old fashioned donuts.
I also learned all I need to know about sushi from me.

Glad to hear you had such a nice get-together.

Ronelle said...

Happy Birthday Michele -sounds like your lunch was a great way to celebrate it. I hope Mark treated... and he can't even accuse you of forgetting your wallet! ha!

I love Sushi too! In fact -I gave everybody their own personal chop sticks and holders for Christmas this year -kind of like mini pool cues. Interestingly enough, I also am not a fan of corned beef and cabbage - hmmmmmm.

Kate Cohen said...

rita-- you crack me up

mich said...

You guys all crack me up. Thanks for the great birthday wishes. And Mark, thanks again for the fun (and tasty!) lunch. I'm with you -- we're a natural pair as friends. And you're not a bad big brother, either.

freda said...

what a nice blog. Happy birthday Mich. My mother always said "life begins at 40" so you are in the middle of life beginning. It is so nice to see such a great relationship in a family, I am lucky in my family too. We are all so fortunate.

mich said...

Hey, Ronelle -- I got Guitar Hero for my birthday, so that family rock-off MUST happen.

Freda and Kaye -- a special thanks to you for the birthday wishes. I love this blog!

Ronelle said...

Mich- now I feel tremendous pressure to improve my GH skills to unbeatable levels.I won't have much time to post comments anymore, I may not even go to work. Just know that somewhere in New Jersey someone is strumming the colored frets off her favorite white plastic guitar in anticipation of the family face off. Bring it on!