For many, birthdays are a mixed bag as no one wants to be reminded of their slow, daily crawl toward senescence. I say, who cares about approaching senility, let’s start the party! Despite that attitude, my birthday falls amid much summer hecticness, which means it gets overlooked by most. However, my fantastic hubby and some of the other terrific people in my life more than make up for anyone else’s lack. Here’s how Jason and others compensated in 2023.

Due to the proximity of our birthdays, Jason and I decided a couple years ago we’d alternate which of us gets a birthday gathering with friends each year. Nevertheless, he immediately escaped from that plan by instigating a small outing with a few buddies to Red Door Escape Room in honor of me in a year that was supposed to have no such honoring. That boy! We did a double breakout with Once Upon a Time, the location’s second-easiest room, and The Gift, its second hardest. We got out of one but not the other. Our defeat wasn’t altogether a skill issue though, a key that was supposed to drop out of a cuckoo clock at one point got stuck, a fact we were not aware of, halting our progress. Our game master failed to notice this as our time diminished. Sure, I’ll blame it all on that.

The birthday celebrations proceeded with Jason and I enjoying a dinner at Bambara, which had recently reopened after a remodel and menu switch. I won’t say no to baked Alaska! That brings me to my actual birthday.

On my birthday, Jason made me chilaquiles for breakfast. Then, continuing our gluttonous trend, we stopped at Caputo’s Market and Deli for lunch on our way to hike Mount Van Cott. Mount Van Cott is short for a Utah peak at 6,351 feet. Normally this would be a downside, but with snow lingering in the higher elevations after our robust winter, it was a plus. Mount Van Cott is located just beyond the University of Utah and was named for Lucy May Van Cott, the first Dean of Women there. Given this mountain’s proximity to Salt Lake City, you’d think it would be crawling with people, but we only saw four humans at a distance during our climb.

Did we like the hike? Yes, with some reservations. The many trails crisscrossing and circling the area made staying on the correct path tricky. We arrived at Cott’s apex with the help of some online GPS maps. The route we ended up taking wasn’t what we’d planned, but it got us there with four miles of hiking total.

That night, my sister and some of her family came over for Thai takeout. Besides all that, which should have been enough festivities for even the biggest birthday divas, I had a celebratory lunch with a friend the day before my birthday, and, following my birthday, I had two more. One of these was at the park, a beloved tradition that began during the height of COVID and has outlasted that uncertain time.

Birthdays can become demanding, even for the gastrointestinal system, and the timing of mine increases that potential. However, good food, beautiful scenery, outdoor moments, brain-stimulating activities, and hanging with friends will always be appreciated no matter how decrepit I get.