Steph, I wish there was something I could do besides validate that the universe is being a right arsehole to you and that of course you can feel upset about being able to celebrate on your birthday. Wishing you get-through-it~ma.

I send you cool breezes, sj.

If I ever move out of Virginia, I'm going someplace that isn't humid. It's absolute misery. I don't leave the house in summertime if I can avoid it.

Steph, it sucks that you've got to do unpleasant things instead of having your celebration on your birthday day. It's totally normal to feel resentful that these unpleasant things have crowded out your birthday! But please remember (god, I hope this comes out the way I mean it) remember this isn't happening because someone put you last. It's happening because you chose to put someone else first. Because you love them. That's a whole different thing. Nobody is stepping on you this time. You're stepping up. And you're pretty awesome for doing that; a lot of people would just refuse to show up for their family and their partner and go do what they wanted instead.

Teppy - I think you should have a month: starting with your actual birthday and continuing until the same date next month. (If that makes sense.)

You are having such a mammoth month of crazy obligation - take what time you can have for yourself even if it's five minutes of quiet alone time here and there.

Meanwhile, I'm watching the first day of Royal Ascot. It's gorgeous. Apparently, the UK is having a heat wave - as in temps that are actually in the 80s F or 30s C. The Royal procession was lovely - 4 landaus (now I know how to pronounce that!) - they are pulled by horses with postillions rather than a driver. Interesting. The Queen wore a light spring green outfit. She rode the first carriage with the Duke of Edinburgh, the Duke of York and her Master of the Horse (who is also a duke). Prince Charles and Camilla were in the second carriage with Princesses Beatrix and Eugenie, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (she was all in white) rode with the Duke and Duchess of Wessex and Peter Phillips (Anne's son) rode with his wife and Jane Fellows (Prince William's maternal aunt) and her husband.

So far American runners haven't done too well. But my this is a beautiful setting.

I should point out that I celebrated my last birthday for three straight weeks.

I have worked through and ignored a large portion of my birthdays.

A month-long festival celebrating Teppy sounds good to me.

I actually hate my birthday and don't want to talk about it- I have a new coworker who is really insistent on treats and cards and stuff for birthdays, and I refused to give her mine!

Ok, I had another consultation with the online doctor. She prescribed Lexapro for me. I think I will wait until morning to start it. I think the consequences of finding out that it causes me to be drowsy if I take it in the morning will be easier to handle than if the side effect is insomnia and I take it at night.

It definitely made me drowsy, but people have really different reactions. That's a good plan.

How do I send flowers to a funeral home? Er, what I mean is, do I have to find a florist in the small town where the funeral will be and call them, or can I use Teleflora and they'll have a local affiliate that can deliver? I've never done this before, and googling "how do I send flowers to a funeral home" yielded a lot of sites telling me the etiquette around sending flowers, but not literally how to do it. (Please take mercy on me; I've never done this before and I am painfully literal and about 2 seconds from a breakdown.)

You can use Teleflora. It's just like sending flowers anywhere else. Make sure you have the name of the deceased, and the name, address and number of the funeral home, as well as the times of any viewing/visitation and service.

I'm sorry, Teppy. It's been a rough few weeks for you. No hugs, but lots of hairpats.