The Highs and Lows of a Birthday Breakfast

I wasn’t expecting much of a birthday celebration at work. It was a half day Friday and half of the staff was out today. I was a little disappointed that not everyone was going to be around to help me celebrate but I’ve had lots of birthdays at work and there’s nothing new to surprise me. I came in late and immediately saw coffee and juice on the main table. Nina greeted me with, “It’s about time, we want breakfast.” I thought it was a standard LA café breakfast platter and it was. But on the table I saw that Dave had brought in his waffle maker and was shaking up batter mix in a plastic milk container. Nice. The smell of waffles and maple syrup wafting in the office was a strange but pleasant sensation. There was a large paper grocery bag filled with assorted bagels including the nasty raisin and ones I’ve never seen before. A yellow bagel with garlic, onion and salt. It was an Everything egg bagel. That one's mine. Then lox and cream cheese appeared. Sweet. We had all of these bottles of OJ and Olga wished we could make mimosas. Wait. I have a left over bottle of champagne in the fridge from Anne's going away party. Popped the cork. Now this is a proper birthday breakfast. What could’ve been ordinary was made really special. Thanks for putting the extra effort everyone. I feel like such a lucky boy.

Afterwards, I settled in my office to answer emails. My assistant Nina came in and asked, “Can I shut the door?” hmmm. I’ve heard this before. She sat down, took a breath and said, “I’m leaving.” oh man. I’m still too high from my breakfast that I can’t really process what I just heard. All I know is that I’m really bummed that she's leaving but I know it’s good for her to move on. man, what a rollercoaster of emotions. I can't say it's the best birthday present I ever got, but it's still better than getting socks.