We tried to lay low and play it cool to make him think we had forgotten. It worked! When Jimmy and the boys came in from basketball practice he was met with a little Marine Corps birthday surprise party. We maintain a Guinness cake tradition every year but things have been a little busy lately and we hadn't talked about it at all (and I normally spend a few days teasing him about the fact that he and his fellow Marines call each other every Nov. 10 to wish each other a happy birthday). He said he hadn't wanted to bring it up and add the cake baking to my ever-growing to-do list, but admitted that he was a tiny bit sad when he thought we'd forgotten it completely. No, there were cards and drawings and cake and I even pulled off my eleventh-hour gift idea of fixing the quilt that I made him years ago out of the abundance of Marine Corps t-shirts that caused his drawer to overflow. Our celebration was a success.

Happy birthday, Marines joy...