As you may or may not know, my birthday is coming up, on March 29th. This is incredibly important because someday in the future, after I save the Earth from martian invasion/robots/zombies/hippies, this day will be remembered as a national holiday. Until that happens, you'll just have to settle for it being important because it's the day I was born. Now what some of you may not know is, I have a slightly less handsome best friend who was born on the very same day as me (thankfully he's also a much slower runner than I am, so I can say things like that about him).
What's significant about our birthday this year, is that it's our golden birthday-we're turning 29 on the 29th. But what's also significant, and much more important, is that my best friend is currently deployed with the USAF in Afghanistan.
So in honor of Captain Patrick DuVall, I am giving away my birthday this year. What that means, is that instead of asking for gifts (or let's be honest-shots at the bar) I am requesting that anyone who would normally get me something, instead make a donation to The Wounded Warrior Project-in honor of Captain DuVall. Any amount is appreciated, but for every $10 you donate, the WWP will send you a thank you card that you can then personalize and send to Patrick (or write your grocery list on if you want, the card isn't really the point).
You can learn more about the Wounded Warrior Project here.
About Captain DuVall: Patrick was born in the middle of the woods during a fierce snowstorm. When his parents lost sight of him in the weather, he was discovered by a wolf, who brought him back to her cave to raise him with her cubs. Ok, that's a total lie-I actually didn't meet Patrick until we were like 12, so we'll just go ahead and skip to that part of the story.
I met Patrick when I was 12 years old. We both played trumpet in the school band and became friends almost immediately. Patrick and I spent the first several days of our friendship harassing our band director-when her back was turned of course. Generally this was accomplished by throwing things (paper planes, candy, erasers). Patrick got caught right in the middle of of launching a handful of Skittles at her (you got bonus points if you got anything caught in her hair without her noticing) and was called into her office after class. This was literally the very first time Patrick had ever gotten in trouble at school.The look on his face was somewhere between "deer in the headlights" and "oh God, I just went to the bathroom." Assuming it was the latter (because although the looks are similar, Patrick isn't a deer), I ran to the lost and found box to attempt to retrieve him some clean pants. When I came back, I figured it was my turn to get called into the band director's office-but Patrick came out by himself and I never heard anything about the incident. I knew right then and there that we were going to be good friends (the term "BFF", didn't come around til like a decade later). Side note: for those of you who feel like we must've been really mean kids-I'm not saying we weren't a little bit mean, but in our defense, our band director was effin terrible.
After that we were off to high school. Patrick and I saw each other every day of high school and stayed close, but honestly I remember very little of our interactions with each other at that time because...you know...girls. The same can be said of the few years following high school because...you know...alcohol.
Pictured: Patrick demonstrating the "I'm just gonna pass out on the bathroom floor by 10pm, after vomiting on myself," method of birth control.
During high school, Patrick met Celina. They both attended the United States Air Force Academy after graduating and were married immediately after Celina's graduation from the Academy. Demonstrating their combined good taste, I was asked to be the best man at their wedding.
Lookit that guy up there-just killing it on that mic.
Since then, Patrick and Celina have been through a lot together. Two years ago they had this little guy:
And once again, choosing to highlight their impeccable decision making skills-I was asked to be Aidan's Godfather-a huge honor, and big responsibility.
Patrick, Celina, and I, all share a lot of common interests and agree on pretty much everything. So it's always been easy for us to get along. But I think it's important to acknowledge when things aren't easy, because that's the important stuff. I don't want to get into too much detail, but I have to say that since I have known him, Patrick has been there for me through everything. When the first girl I ever loved broke my heart, Patrick was there. When I got kicked out of my parent's house, Patrick was there. Since I have known Celina, she has been the same way. And at this juncture in my life, I likely wouldn't be a functional human being if it weren't for them. When my life fell apart last year, Patrick and Celina immediately asked me to come stay with them. Since I have been here, they have housed me, fed me, and even pushed me to get started with CrossFit-all while just being generally supportive while I try to piece my life back together. Patrick is currently deployed to Afghanistan, but still makes time whenever I talk to him, to ask how things are going for me here. And he still gets genuinely upset for me every time I tell him the DMV has yet to issue me my ambulance driver's license. I could ask Pat for the shirt off his back, and in two weeks I would receive a stinky, dusty, shirt in the mail.
Anyway, I could go on and on, but I'll leave it at that. Please donate, in honor of Captain Patrick DuVall. It would be cool if you do so, if you leave a comment on this blog with your name and amount donated (anonymous donations are always appreciated too of course!). Currently, Patrick knows nothing about this. I would like to keep it that way until our actual birthday. At which point, it would be awesome if I could give him a ball park figure of how much was donated on his behalf. I will also post his address so you can send him donation cards/birthday cards/care packages/cakes with nail files in them.
Anyway, I could go on and on, but I'll leave it at that. Please donate, in honor of Captain Patrick DuVall. It would be cool if you do so, if you leave a comment on this blog with your name and amount donated (anonymous donations are always appreciated too of course!). Currently, Patrick knows nothing about this. I would like to keep it that way until our actual birthday. At which point, it would be awesome if I could give him a ball park figure of how much was donated on his behalf. I will also post his address so you can send him donation cards/birthday cards/care packages/cakes with nail files in them.
Sorry, I was just informed I was thinking of "Alcatraz," and not "Afghanistan."
And before I forget: THANK YOU!!!! SO VERY MUCH!!!!
P.S. Happy Birthday to Bryant!!!
P.P.S Celina gave me access to all the pictures on their family computer. I'm not gonna post it, because I don't want to embarrass him too much, but there's an amazing picture of Patrick dressed up as The Crow, for Halloween one year-which you should definitely ask him about.
