It’s gluten, egg, and seed oil-free, but you wouldn’t even notice because the cake-to-frosting ratio is skewed heavily toward the frosting. It’s so rich and decadent that I had to pound a quart of water after I ate a slice. My dad and Bonnie couldn’t even finish their’s. Quitters.

I have to admit, it started off looking like it was going to be a dud, but it finished strong. We woke up too late to go garage sailing, which was the only thing I wanted to do today. We could have still gone, but then my dad came to see me for my birthday. I would have dragged him along, but he’s not into that sort of thing, so we hung out and talked.

After he left, we hit up some thrift stores because I heard it was National Thrift Store Day. It was billed as “The Black Friday For Thrift Stores.” It just seemed like any other day at a thrift store in the ones we went to.

When we got home, my kids gave me a cool old black and white video camera from the 70s, and because I’ve collected enough old electronic junk this year, I had what I needed to hook it up and play with it. My dad also gave me his old Nikon 70D and a curved computer monitor. They weren’t birthday presents; he’s been talking about giving them to me for months, and it just happened to be today that he brought them.

Then, to top the day off, I got to run errands with my family. Quality time doesn’t have to be exciting or extravagant. I can’t remember the last time the four of us did something together, so even if it was just watching my kid try on shoes, it was nice.

So, it was a good birthday despite not being one of the big ones, and I’m glad I put zero effort into it.