Birthday Dilemna

The time has come.

I have delayed, distracted, stalled, procrastinated.  And today, ready or not, I have to decide where my coworkers are going to take me for my birthday lunch tomorrow.  I have to decide so an email can go out so that people know where to show up!

This is not easy for someone like me who loves everything.  And it's further complicated by the fact that Columbia, MD where I work must have 500 restaurants.  Fuddruckers with the deadly 3 cheese cheeseburger?  Don Pablos sinful mexican?  Cheeseburger! Cheeseburger! whose burgers are mediocre but who's ice cream shakes are epic?  Or Panera Bread with it's creamiest mac and cheese or better-than-mom's chicken noodle soup? (Sorry, mom.)

The decision wouldn't be so hard except I feel like this is the last supper.  The last birthday I get to choose something really over-the-top unhealthy without shame.  The last work luncheon where I won't be counting points or budgeting calories or substituting salad for fries.  This is a critical choice, and I've been paralyzed!

Then there's the fact that tomorrow is my 45th birthday.  Not 44, or 43, which are closer to 40.  Nope, this is 45.   From that moment on I'm going to be literally closer to 50 than 45. (Can I tell you how much that sucked just typing that out? Egads.)

The reality is that I need to master this upcoming year, not just so I can get made over into a cougar (you think I'm kidding, don't you?) but because I'm at an age where I need to actually start worrying about my cholesterol, my heart, my skin, my circulation, etc.  I need to start choosing healthy because I want to BE healthy.  I need to choose the salad because my body needs and craves it, not as a punishment or atonement for my cheesecake sins of yesterday.

So back to today.  The adult in me believes this isn't an "all or nothing" choice and that I'm blowing it all out of proportion.  That even when I start into this healthy year, if I want the occasional "bad" food I can do it, so it's not like this is the last time I'll ever get to eat junk.  But the melodramatic teenager in me prefers to make a big freaking deal out of it all and go for the big bang.

I'm going with Don Pablos and I'm ordering the worst possible thing on the menu.  The Don's Sampler.  There are more calories in this one appetizer than I should eat in a whole day.

 I won't be able to eat it all (well, I wouldn't put money on that statement), so the rest will come back to the office where I can enjoy it for another day or two before January 1st kicks in and all bets are off.  I know this is a bit over the top.  But you know, that's kind of how I roll......