9 months and 26 years later ...

I am finally 26. My birthday was this past Saturday. It was one of those weekends where 76,534 people were having birthday parties the same weekend. Everyone kept making the the joke "Well, 9 months ago was Valentine's Day ... Ha Ha Ha."

My response? "Please, don't ever, ever say that again."

Although, after someone said that to me, I told them the following story, which I will share with you now. I apologize in advance, Mom. But it's pretty damn funny.

My junior year of college, my father came to Boston with one of his colleagues for a work conference (gotta get those CME credits!). My dad asked if I wanted to invite my roommates out for dinner. And, as anyone who ever went to college knows, you jump on an opportunity like that like it's going out of style.

The scene:
4 girls. 3 white + me (not white, in case you were wondering). 2 Desi Uncles.

What happened:

The conversation was a little awkward, as is expected. Finally, at some point, my roommates started talking about where they are from, etc. Roommate #1 was from Michigan (born and raised), but spent quite some time in Chicago while growing up. Roommate #2 was from Chicago. Roommate #3 was from Philadelphia, but her father moved to Chicago some years ago.

We came to the conclusion that all my roommates were tethered to the Midwest, particularly Chicago. We seemed to have reached the end of the conversation, and the silence was creeping up once again. All of a sudden, my Dad looks up and says, I swear on my life:

"Well, Sophia was conceived in Chicago."

The aftermath:

My jaw dropped and I think whatever food I may have had in there fell onto my plate. My roommates looked horrified and had no idea how to respond. My father looked completely nonplussed. After another 30 seconds of silence, we all burst into laughter and couldn't stop for almost the entire night.

*~*~

Here's to 26. May it be better than 25. And 25 was pretty good, I gotta admit. Happy Birthday to all the November babies, my brother included. His birthday is tomorrow.