Where's my birthday pie?

A few years back my sister was working at one of her first pastry jobs in a bakery. A couple of days before my birthday she asked me what kind of cake I wanted. The conversation went something like this:

Leah: What kind of cake do you want for your birthday?
Me: I want a pie.
Leah: You can't have a pie.
Me: Why not?
Leah: Because you have cake on your birthday. It's birthday cake, not birthday pie.
Me: But I like pie more than cake. I don't like all that frosting.
Leah: Well you can't do it.
Me: I want pie. What kind of pies does the bakery make?
Leah: Apple, peach, cherry, etc.
Me: PEACH! That sounds great! I'll have peach birthday pie.
Leah: But you can't write "Happy Birthday" on a pie.
Me: Sure you can, it just won't be flat on top. I'll have a peach pie with "Happy Birthday Lori" written in icing. It'll be great.
Leah: You can't put icing on a pie!
Me: No, but you can.
Leah: You're insane.

Eventually she came around, and a few days later I had a peach pie with "Happy Birthday Lori" written in purple icing. That was four years ago, for my 25th birthday. I haven't had cake on my brithday ever since. I've had pies, tarts, and even baklava, but not cake.

We have fallen into a pattern of celebrating our birthdays twice in my family. On the actual day my mother, sister and I always have dinner together, and then at the closest weekend we'll have another dinner and I usually invite a friend along for that. This year is different. This year I'm in New York, 800 miles away from my family and most of my oldest and dearest friends. Even when I lived in San Diego I flew home for my birthday that year. But unfortunately schedules didn't allow it for this year. It's okay, I'm not complaining, it's just crazy that the first time I am celebrating a birthday without my family is when I turn 29. Lots of people would think that is very strange, and certainly not normal. But I've never cared much for normal anyway.

So this year I am in New York. I'm not alone though, I'm going out to a special dinner with Greg, and will surely be seeing Joe and Shannon (whoops, I mean Jerry and Jenna) very soon. I am very lucky to have such supportive and wonderful friends who have been happy to make time and include me in thier lives to help make this transition a little easier. And I expect to have a very good birthday here in this strange city. I've realized it's a place in which nothing is really normal, and in that regard I fit right in.

I will miss my birthday pie though.