The census meme thingy (though I think it was originally intended for UK people):
2011: living with my husband in a small city in the south of the Netherlands, not far from the German and Belgian borders
2001: living with same husband plus two male cats, in a biggish (5 br, 2 bath) two-story house in Chandler, AZ (a suburb of Phoenix).
1991: living with not-yet-husband and same cats, first in a two-story one bedroom apartment, then in a three-story townhouse on a marina. (It was the best people-gathering place we ever lived at and just a nice place to be, if a bit shabby; I still miss the clinking of the sailboats parked in front of us and eating Popeye’s chicken and red beans & rice on our balcony. This is also where I first learned how nice it is to have two and a *half* bathrooms.)
1981: living with my parents and brother in a Northeast Philadelphia rowhouse. If we had any pets at the time, they were just gerbils or hamsters.
1971: Living with my parents in the same house; my brother joined us at the end of the year.
1961: About a year before my parents met.
Also: hey, I share a birthday with Remus Lupin! He’s older, though.
I think I have just figured out the one advantage to being slightly ill on your birthday; Dutch tradition is to congratulate someone who is having one either by shaking hands or by kissing their cheeks three times (left, right, left). I’ve been telling everyone today that I appreciate the birthday congratulations, but I’m not touching anyone, hands or cheeks. I don’t mind the handshakes, but in a work setting the kisses feel weird to me. I’m not criticizing: this is plainly one of those cases where neither tradition is better or worse than the other. It’s just that a tradition you haven’t grown up with can feel very strange, especially when it’s directly opposed to the one you’re used to (“no touching at work, other than handshakes”). Couple that with the fact that I’m not a very huggy/kissy person even by American standards (I appreciate hugs but only from actual friends/family), and I’m glad to give it a miss this year.