Olé!

My friend Kate is the best. Yesterday was my birthday (December 8, which is also the feast of the Immaculate Conception, though Greeks don’t really celebrate this holiday) and I had a crazy busy day and was stuck at the office until 9 o’clock. because the organization for which I work had their holiday open house last night.

Kate brightened my day with a kooky iconogram (pictured left), which had the following note attached:

“Happy Birthday Dean!!! I was trying to find a picture of a boy jumping out of a cake, but instead I found this picture... with a boy jumping out of a chalice ;)
xoxoxo Love, Kate ”

It so captures Kate’s irreverent sense of humor.

After work I gave her a ring. Joe (my partner) was at his Thursday night gig, so Kate and I decided to grab a late supper. When I got to her place, she showed me a really cool demitasse cup that she won on Ebay recently, and then gave me a birthday gift, which, she explained, she had also purchased on Ebay. To my delight, it was a ouija board, but not just any ouija board. This one was made by Parker Brothers in Salem, Massachusetts. It was very important to Kate that she find one that met those criteria. Kate and I met in Salem many years ago, back before I came out, while we were both working at The House of the Seven Gables.

After I opened my present, we set off for tapas at Brookline’s Taberna de Haro (999 Beacon Street). What an awesome place. Although the kitchen closes at 10 o’clock, and we waltzed in at 10:15, the owner, who is a Spaniard, was extremely gracious and hospitable. Before I could tell him it was my birthday, he laughed and said to us, “What am I going to do, send you to Dunkin Donuts?”

Thank you, Kate (and Taberna de Haro), for a great birthday.