Today Was A Good B-Day

I still have a few minutes left in another Cuatro De Mayo celebration, AKA my birthday. As usual its been an interesting weekend.

I was born during the Kennedy Administration at 10:45 PM CDT on this day in H-town's Third Ward. At this point in my life I look at every birthday I reach as the blessing that it is, especially when you factor in that it took me awhile to evolve (and I'm STILL evolving) into the person I am today.

One of the neat things about living in Da Ville is that my birthday falls either just before, on or just after Derby Day. The two week period leading up to the Kentucky Derby is a smorgasbord of events, parties and festivals all leading up to the Derby and Kentucky Oaks. The Oaks is held the day before at Churchill Downs and the races that day including the Oaks have fillies running in them.

When I first moved up here in 2001, my big 4-0 birthday actually fell during Derby 128 in 2002. I still have memorabilia stashed from that one..

Of course, the GLBT community gets in on the fun as well. One of the parties I attended last night was sponsored by our local GLBT civil rights organization, the Fairness Campaign. It's a fundraiser for Fairness and an opportunity for our community to show some love to all the local, state and national political peeps and others who support us. It's also a chance for GLBT friendly celebs who are attending other Derby events around town to interface with their local GLBT fans. And hey, i get to dress up for it as well.

But that party made for a short night. I'd already agreed to roll up to Columbus this morning with Dawn to catch another fencing tournament with her, and we shoved off bright and early up I-71 north at 10 AM EDT to do so. A few hours later we were in Columbus, but not after a little Mapquest drama.

For those of you who Mapquest trips, you're probably aware of the quirks that sometimes pop up that have you taking counterintuitive routes to your destination point. Nine times out of ten it's on target, but every now and then you get one of those head scratching routings

Well, our target destination was a high school in Dublin, OH where the Great Lakes Regional Tournament was being held. We should have been routed off I-71 WESTWARD onto I-270. Instead, it gave us directions a few minutes into it I realized had us going EASTWARD away from Dublin. I ended up catching I-70 west, cutting through downtown Columbus and intersecting I-270 a few moments later and getting Dawn there 35 minutes before check in time at 3 PM EDT.

Well, despite that glitch, I did enjoy the tournament, have a pleasant trip up and back on a beautiful spring day through the Kentucky and Ohio countryside while blasting Janet Jackson's new CD and a host of old school R&B favorites on my system.

I also had the opportunity at various moments during that drive to reflect on some of the blessings I've received this year. Being invited to become a contributing writer to the Project. Speaking at the upcoming inaugural New England Transgender Pride March on June 7. Having people in my life who love and care about me in addition to the calls, e-mails, e-cards and well wishes I received from people who consider me an important part of their lives. I deeply appreciate all the love you've showered on me today.

When I blew out the candles on the cake, one of the things I wished for will hopefully take place on May 20, November 4 and January 20, 2009.

So yeah, today was a good day. And I hope to be blessed with another similar one like it or better 365 days from now.