I think I’ve had more than my fair share in life, but I still love surprise birthdy parties 🙂

British atmospherics

Theron and Todd with the TARDIS

With Catherine, Jason and Katie’s cake!

Nolan, Chrissy, Robert, Thomas

One more with the TARDIS because Katie took such great photos

With the person who organised it all 😉

Thank you so much to everyone who came: Billy, Taylor, Agata, Emilie, Ellen, Robert, Julie, Shelby, Benno, Calvin, Nolan, Chrissy, Brandon, Carolyn, Theron, Catherine, Jason, Ramya, Abhishek, Karol, Kevin, Corey and ESPECIALLY to:

• Todd, who organised a British-themed trivia quiz (which my team thankfully won else I’d never hear the end of it)
• Katie, who baked cakes and took photos and decorated and is generally awesome
• Randi, who masterminded the whole thing and is (a) untrustworthy  (b) amazing ❤

And also to my sisters who contributed British phrases in advance! (Did you know that “lost the plot” is not part of American English? That’s a real loss.) I love all of the above.

Turning 26 means I’ve been living in Chicago for a little over a year, and I am still blown away by the warmth and generosity of the people in my life here. It’s sad that immigration is never seen in these terms back at home. Instead it’s all migration statistics, spurious debates about welfare and tough talk about border controls. If we spent a fraction of the time celebrating instead what it takes to make people feel welcome, we’d be a happier people.

Becca Wynter, David Boss, Jonathan Jenkins, Randi Lawrence, Katie Sharing, Matt Montagano liked this post.

« Iowa: Trip Proves Enjoyable | Katie and the Kayak »