I turned 23 on the train this past Wednesday. I have had to work on most of my last few birthdays, and usually this was a fact I resented and found quite frustrating. I am rather sentimental about things like birthdays, and holidays in general. I believe we ought to take more excuses than we do to celebrate things and people, and holidays are popularly agreed upon opportunities for this. And what better thing to celebrate than…me? ;)
Back in the good old school days, having a birthday in mid-July was the best. I could have my parties outside, at the beach, in parks, in a tent in my backyard. It’s usually not warm enough to do these things in Maine, but on my birthday the weather was almost invariably perfect. Plus, I didn’t have to go to school or do anything unpleasant, unlike most poor suckers.
Once I was away from home and most of my closest friends were at school with me, not being at school during my birthday became more of a bummer. I have been far away from most people I care about for most of my last several birthdays. This year I was in Alaska, last year I was in Italy, the summer of my 21st I was living in Portland, but journeyed to Providence to see a few friends, the summer before that I was in Burlington, Vermont (working on another train for tourists). My 18th birthday I was working for Environment Maine, asking people for money on the street. That was a terrible day.
This year, I decided to avoid the pangs of spending my birthday sad and lonely, far away from the people I love, by preemptively celebrating it every month, instead of just the once in July. As it turned out, I didn’t really celebrate it more than two or three random times during the school year, but I did at least nod to it and take an excuse to act silly on the 13th of most months. I threw a particularly good party in May, since it was my last chance to do it at Brown, and I had plenty of free time.
The 12-month birthday plan still strikes me as ingenious, and I will probably continue it this coming year. However, I am happy to report that it proved unnecessary as a consolation prize. I started really making friends out here just in the nick of time to have an abundance of people to invite over to my cute little yellow house in Anchorage and host a party. (I’ve discovered in the last year or two—throwing parties is something I really enjoy, and have a natural knack for. I am especially good at delegating so that all the necessary components come together.) For the first time in a while, timing worked out reasonably well, so Hope and Nicole and Caitlin were all able to make it, although they all had to work the next day. It was excellent to have some recurring characters from birthdays past, and those three girls played a big role in making my birthday wonderful. They came bearing cards, presents, a delicious chocolate raspberry cake, homemade humus (per a specific request), and Nicole even went out on a quest at around 11:30 pm to find me gin and ginger ale, because I needed them.
The party was low-key but lovely, my favorite kind of party, especially after two days of work. We saw some of the (Alaskanly-prolonged) sunset, had a brief fire in our fire pit/chimney in the backyard, and I even found an ideal tree to climb back there, which had somehow escaped my notice until then. Many of the people I invited weren’t able to make it, but there was still a solid crowd of 12 or 15 at the peak. Nicole and I attempted to teach the raucous pirate drinking song “Old Dun Cow,” and I said good night to the last few stragglers, most of whom were sleeping over, by serenading them with the beautiful Irish song “The Parting Glass.”
Even my birthday work run panned out exceptionally well. I had around 80 passengers all day on the 12th. The cars max out at 88. I told all those people it was my birthday that day; I figured it might help with tips, and make the day more fun. The morning group was fun. One 60ish year old Asian man had brought his guitar with him, along with some sheet music and lyrics. He was all about having a sing-along, which eventually we did. I, upon request, performed for the car a couple of times, singing the chorus of Northwest Passage (which is the most Alaska-related song I know) as well as Tell Me Ma (just because I like it, and know it well.) We also got pretty much the whole train car to sing Country Roads, and I joined the guitarist in singing Stand By Me. It was all very silly.
That night I hung out with some of my newer friends, fellow bartenders Jason and Charles. They are both much more experienced (and a few years older) than I am, and it was kind of cool to pick their brains and try to pick up some bartending savvy. First we had a decadent feast, compared to the usual microwave or granola bar Fairbanks fare. We pooled our resources and had a mini-dinner party, complete with avocado, humus, tomato and olive bread. We also went out to a local bar in Fairbanks (my first time doing that) a little after midnight because I figured, why not? It was my birthday, and we were all only “live” for breakfast the next day. I had two drinks, a Washington Apple shot courtesy of Jason, and a shot of honey whiskey on the house because I guess I made friends with the bartender. I was also out in full Shana style, wearing my favorite silk green pajama pants.
Generally, everyone was exceedingly nice to me throughout my two-day birthday extravaganza, especially my co-workers on the train. Another friend, Robin, made me a birthday crown out of three purple flowers we usually put in vases on the dining room tables. One of the on-board managers, my friend Chris, was taking bets on how long a certain dog would chase the train if we slowed down to 20 mph in his area. Apparently, he always tries to chase us but we’re usually going too fast for it to go anywhere, and the engineer for the day, “Animal,” had agreed to help with this experiment. My very cool friend Sandra spotted me for my wager. I put my dollar on 23 seconds. It seemed like the most auspicious number. Unfortunately, the dog failed to appear that day, but we’re hoping we’ll be able to settle the pot the next time we’re going south with that ARR and management crew.
I wanted to sell tons of delicious drinks the morning of my birthday, and was all gung-ho, offering Woo-Woos and Sex on the Beach as the day’s specialties. Didn’t have any takers, though. It’s hard to get people to drink before noon, it turns out. Still, I was determined to have a good day, and I was extremely perky (perhaps also a little caffeinated, running on about 3 hours of sleep) and had some great conversations with passengers. I made friends with one guy who had traveled to many of the same places in Europe that I have. He even said he would vote for me if I ran for president, when that came up, which is something I have never gotten tired of hearing, particularly from relative strangers. Finally, I capped off the morning by testing my Bloody Mary mix, which is delicious. There were other vices (like being barefoot) I was hoping to enjoy on the train that day, but some upper management came aboard so I mostly just napped and made and handed out party invitations.
And, of course, July 13th was a beautiful, sunny, clear-skied day, even out here in Alaska.
My post-birthday Thursday was also delightful. I had the day off and spent a good chunk of it checking in with friends from afar. I was biking downtown when my friend Alli called, so I serendipitously arrived in a beautiful garden outside of the Anchorage Museum. I was far enough away from traffic that we could converse with ease, and I sat surrounded by flowers and sunshine. I wandered accidentally to the coast because my pirate feet naturally always lead me to water, and then I backtracked to a lovely coffee shop with free wireless, where I set up for much of the remaining afternoon, reading through birthday wishes from people I love.
I ran a few more errands, including buying myself some small presents at Fred Meyer: envelopes, scotch tape, a new journal, some new pens, hand soap and granola. I stayed up a bit too late chatting with my roommate Blair, but the birthday luck held and I didn’t have passengers on Friday, so I was able to catch up on some sleep then.
All in all, I’ve been on a cloud of joy and well-being and gratitude for the life I have and the people in it. I have nothing but hopeful and exuberant anticipation for the year and years ahead of me. I have many choices to make, but I know I can’t go too far wrong as long as I keep paying attention and living, loving and enjoying.
I’m on the schedule to have a “Day off in Denali” this coming Tuesday. Hopefully this means I will get to do some camping and awesome expeditions. Will report back shortly.
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