The Birthday Gift

*******Hey guys, Thank you so much for reading this. I have never written anything before, but I have always had stories running around in my mind, and I love to read, so I thought I would give it a try. Please leave a comment. I can't get better without knowing what I'm doing wrong. Once again thanks so much!!! And I really hope you enjoy it!*********** 

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I've got-Two tickets to paradise! Pack your bags, we'll leave tonight.......

"Ughhhhh......"  

Rolling over and smacking her phone until it stopped its incessant blaring of Eddie Money, Josie Walton cursed the day she ever thought it would be a good idea to put that godforsaken song as her alarm. She was sure it had something to do with a long-ago vacation, and the excitement leading up to it causing her to change all the songs on her phone to reflect her inner giddiness. Unfortunately, with the ferocious pounding in her head, and the rolling of her stomach, it was hard to remember what it felt like to be on vacation at the moment, and was mentally flipping of past Josie for getting to take one.  

Coffee, must have coffee.  

My lord woman, what did you do last night? Who said it was smart to go out on the town the night before your thirtieth birthday, which by the way is today, the day of doom....  

Why do I have to be thirty? I don't feel thirty, I have a good job that I love, I get to meet interesting people, I have good friends, I keep myself in okay shape. Sort of. So why thirty? Why is that such a big deal? Why do I feel like a complete loser right now with a horrible hangover, a wedgie, morning breath that could kill small animals, and what I'm sure is the largest rats nest ever living in my hair? 

Because You haven't had a normal relationship in over 3 years? Because you won't let anyone close enough to you to have a chance since the Big Win? And on the side you're shamefully addicted to crazy fantasy shows and mint chocolate chip ice cream. And you live in a building that, from the outside looks like an abandoned factory. 

Oh yeah.... 

Laying there on her back, looking at her ceiling, depression sat in just a bit. She knew on a logical level that turning thirty wasn't that big of a deal. I mean thirty was the new twenty right? We live in the world of creams and facials, and lasers and all kinds of things that can keep you looking young forever right? Yeah, seems like a pipe dream to me, besides, who can afford it? 

Okay so talking to herself was only making it worse. Action was the game plan for today. She knew the day would be full of happy birthdays, jokes about her impending walker needs, and pranks pulled by her co-workers at the local radio station, KLXP, The Best Mix station in her hometown of SugarVille, Louisiana. And no, I'm not joking about the name. She knew that she just had to buck it up and make it through today and she could go back to her normal everyday life and forget about the fact that while most of her friends had families, save the crazy best friend who lived down the hall, she herself was single as could be with no prospects in sight. But then, she knew her life was a little harder to deal with than most. Hence the self-proclaimed period of abstinence. Granted, she didn't think it would last quite this long. 

Tap,tap,tap..... 

"Hey lady-bug, you awake yet?"  

The welcoming sound of her best friend and longtime neighbor, Kat, had Josie hauling her lazy butt out of bed. Walking out of her bedroom and wincing at the big clock above her dining room table, she walked across the expansive hard wood floors of her loft apartment and opened the door with one hand while trying to wrestle her hair out of her face with her brush with the other.