23.

i had a birthday. jan. 24th, like most of my days the past three weeks, was a day of split personalities. i was "ms. mecham" for a third of the day at the middle school and i channeled "julian," my 7-year old tomboy self, for the rest of the day. i couldn't bear to spend my birthday cooped up in ms. mecham attire and demeanor. in extreme opposition to that person i have to be most of the day i threw myself a michael jordan birthday party, as his number was 23, i was turning 23, and 90's basketball culture is something i revel in.

guests were instructed to wear a favorite jersey or team apparel. i wore a purple utah jazz shirt (the one with the mountains....what were we thinking?), black bball shorts, and my air jordan basketball shoes. split personality case in point: ut jazz gear and MJ shoes. the guests gathered in the living room and had a dunk contest on the nerf basketball hoop i bought for the occasion.

as i finished getting ready, dusty came up to my room in a gigantic USA "dream team" michael jordan jersey. i'll admit it. pure envy flooded my entire being. after i talked myself out of killing him to obtain said jersey, he proposed an idea that softened his effort to upstage me at my one and only michael jordan birthday party. he got the NBA intro music pumping in the living room while i waited in the kitchen. none of my friends had seen me yet. in his very best impression of the man with the golden voice, dusty announced my hometown, height (fudged a 5'4" for the stat sheet), and my name. i came rushing out to ham it up to the applause and cheers of 20 of my closest friends. there was fist pumping, chest pounding, crowd pointing, through-the-legs, push-bryon-russell-off-game-winning-shot, sliding to the floor with elation made only complete by mandi pouring mcdonald's french fries on my head in celebration (one of MJ's many sponsors). it was easily the best twenty seconds of my life. i just want to be announced and showered with french fries. forget doing anything.

we only ate food from former MJ sponsors (i.e. Ball Park Franks, Coca-Cola Products, McDonalds). nekku and her sister, ina, made delicious cupcakes with basketballs and #23 on them. i will only vary from a game plan's menu for finnish confectioners. we did indeed eat the entire confection.

we watched a fifteen minute VHS of michael jordan vs. charlie and martin sheen in a game of 21 and a free-throw contest. i tried to rent space jam in a panic. no one had it for rent--just for purchase. space jam with special features almost became the second movie i own, but at a steep $19.99 i couldn't bring myself to buy it. plus, bud court, from harold and maude, would probably push bugs bunny off the shelf in protest. luckily (although whether it was all that fortunate is in question), rick scrounged up a copy of space jam from a neighbor. fifteen minutes in we remembered why we hadn't seen it since 1996.

some favorite gifts include:




michael's "secret stuff" straight out of space jam from jake and shawn. nutballer courtesy of marla. my favorite is that there are now 23 grams of everything and the special ingredient is scotty pippen.




alexa and lo delivered handmade cards from michael himself! who knew he was so prolific with watercolors?



lo's card even included michael's reassurance that i could indeed be the first girl in the NBA. in 4th grade i was dreaming up all sorts of anatomical wraps and cover-ups so i could be sneak into the NBA. thank you, MJ! your word is gold in the professional sports world. you are also saving me hundreds of dollars in ace bandages.

heather and ranger came up from salt lake, which was lovely. heather's laugh in the video at the bottom may be the greatest gift of all. mandi got me a lunch box for school...sustainability, you know? ms. mecham is all about sustainability. whitney got me a singing bowl from nepal, traditionally used for meditation in buddhism. more on this later.

also, the day after the party i noticed that branded in the base of our tea kettle there is a mighty resemblance to the jumpman logo....i'm not trying to be the grilled cheese lady ca. 2004, but does this or does this not look like MJ from the free-throw line? ebay, anybody?





every day after school i play ten to fifteen minutes of nerf basketball. i have been averaging 80-85% from the free-throw blob. it really is a great stress reliever after a hard day of acting like an adult in the middle school. so far a game of nerf basketball a day keeps the psychiatrist away.

i wish i would have taken more photos of the actual party, but i was too busy doing this. love you, MJ. 23 is looking good. boomshakalaka.