Happy Birthday to Me

I managed in true childlike style to have my birthday last the whole month. I figured I deserved it. After all, I turned 40 this year. Most people shy away from celebrating this particular milestone, but I figured, I have three degrees, a good marriage, four kids, and we own our house (sort of), so it's not like I'm 40 and still trying to figure out what I want to do. I've achieved alot, with the grace of God, of course, I do recognize that while I've worked hard, I've been truly blessed with everything we have.

April 1, my actual birthday, started out like any other day. I was to work in Lucy's classroom, teach piano in the afternoon, take Charlie to a rehearsal at church, and then Tony and I were joining Ginny and Eileen and their husbands for dinner that evening. While I was all about the dinner out as adults, I was really saving my birthday celebration for later in the month. More on that later. Anyhow, around 7:30 that morning, Ginny shows up with donuts for breakfast. The funny part was how she had them carried in by my parents who had flown in from DC to surprise me. I was so tickled. She had also, with some help from my neighbor, cancelled my working in the classroom and arranged with my sister to cancel lessons for the afternoon. So while I couldn't get out of the church rehearsal, I was able to spontaneously have a whole day "off". We hung out, ate too much sugar (doughnuts and a dirt cake the little boys made), had a beer in the middle of the day with lunch, napped and played with the little kids left at home (the older two sadly left for school at the normal time.) It was glorious. And that evening, the eight of us went to my favorite resteraunt, Red, White and Brew for dinner. I love that place, but somehow only manage to make it there for my birthday. Oh, well, keeps it special. It was a wonderful day. It was especially amazing how mom and dad arrived on Sunday, everyone except me knew, including my neighbor, and somehow, they still managed to surprise me Wednesday morning. In hindsight, I saw the signs...Tony cleaning up, Eileen not calling me back the evening before (Ok, that actually happens quite a bit), Ginny making my hair appointment so it didn't interrupt the day...I'm glad I'm not so "mature" I can ruin a surprise by being suspicious.

Because I was turning 40, I asked my friend and neighbor Tricia to throw me a party. I love parties, but I tend to be the thrower, not the receiver. I figured I deserved one for this milestone. I postponed it until the end of April since my birthday fell during Lent this year. When you're Catholic, and most of your friends are Catholic, a party on a Friday night during Lent can be a little less than you're looking for in a party. So we waited until after Easter.

Tricia got my sisters involved. As part of my gift, Ginny, Eileen, my brother John and my parents through money into the pot to help pay for it. This allowed us to cater the party instead of making all the food ourselves. We went with Joe's Real BBQ from Gilbert, AZ. Having moved here from Alabama, Tony and I have been looking for good BBQ. Well, we hadn't been to this place before, but now it's my new favorite. We, of course, ordered too much food, but we kinda did it on purpose so we would have leftovers. Which we did, for a week, and I still have some in the freezer. We did pies instead of cake, because that's what I prefer, and Hey, it's MY birthday. I got my favorite, Lemon Meringue as well as a few others. We also had veggies and fruit and chips and enough beer, wine and vodka lemonade to serve the neighborhood. I'm going to have to throw another party just to get rid of leftovers! The most difficult thing to get rid of was the fruit/veggies. After all, the alcohol will keep, the meat will freeze, the desserts disappeared quickly (ha!). But fruits/veggies have to be eaten once they're cut, and eaten quickly. We did pretty well with the watermelon, grapes, and cantalope, but I was the only one who would eat the celery, and I'm afraid the peppers didn't make it.

Here is a picture of my sisters, Ginny, Eileen and Susannah with my friend and neighbor Tricia and her husband Ray. I had spent weeks preparing the backyard, overseeding the lawn, watering the heck out of it, throwing away toys that had been beaten to death by the sun and planting flowers with Alex. Here he is with some of his handiwork. I also revived the fountain in the front with a new pump/plug, hoping that everyone would ooh and ahh over the fountain and not notice that the grass in the front was dead, and my goodness the house needs painting! We rented tables and chairs for the back patio/yard and covered them with purple tablecloths. In the planning stages, we had messed around with the idea of an 80s theme, but in the end, decided to spend money on food/beverage instead of decorations and took advantage of post-Easter sales to decorate in Spring pastels. My neighbor's husband, Ray, who's in construction borrowed some lights from his work that we strung along the back fence all the way around so that the backyard once it got dark, was lit up nicely. It was truly beautiful, especially once my friends started arriving. My sister Susannah was able to fly out and join us, so it truly felt like a special occasion. Here is a picture of some church friends - Dan and Sue I know through Religious Education, Andy, his wife DeAnn, and Nancy I know through choir.

The best part of the party was that some friends of mine in a band volunteered to play for the occasion. They are some friends from church, including my old music director Jaime and his wife Kari, my friends Leon and Ed from church and Phil that I've only met once or twice. They play regularly at weddings, etc., but wanted a chance to get together just for fun, so we were blessed to have them come and grace us with their covers of pop music. It was amazing. They played while everyone ate, and after dinner, they played while everyone danced. It's so nice to see that giant concrete pad in the backyard get some good use. Bottom line, it was a great party. I really felt loved, from the attention showed me that night, to the help from my sisters and friends preparing for it. It was exactly what I wanted, and even better than I could've imagined. Happy birthday to me!

Here's a few extra pictures from the day after. Susannah with Lucy out in the backyard (Lucy had gone to a glam party for a friend's birthday.) Here she is with Florence, who took to her like a hen on a junebug. And here is Florence enjoying the balloons who may have lost their "float" but not their ability to entertain!