I'm turning 35....ALL BY MYSELF

This isn't some Bridget Jones wailing about being alone thing. This is seriously real. I had this fantastic plan to go to the beach for a week and have loads of people join me, from the professor to Gill to the lawyer to my sister, Joey F, and my niece in utero....and of course, Deliriously Awesome. I was going to be 35, yo! I can run for president and everything!

Well, fast-forward to the actual event, and I've got the lawyer and my sister's family. The professor is in Italy, Gill has no more vacation days, my friend the musician never responded, and of course DA is the ex. I love the people who ARE coming and I know I'm going to have a great time with everybody, so I'm not feeling sad...except for the part where nobody shows up until the day AFTER my birthday. Um?

I'm not a big "give me lots of presents" type person (except for the time I invited people to my slumber birthday party and underneath "what to bring," I wrote "sleeping bag, pillow, present"....BUT I WAS NINE, people). But I AM into doing fun things ON my birthday. And I probably WILL manage to find fun things to do, being at the beach and all. Just....by myself.

I'm not yet depressed about that fact. I'm sort of a bit puzzled. I'm curious to see how I will feel on the actual day. It might be weird. It might not. But, I've never spent time in a strange place by myself (it doesn't count when a canceled flight delays you overnight somewhere), much less on my birthday. So I have no clue what to expect.

I guess, if nothing else, it will be an experience. Right?