MY VERY SPECIAL DAY

My February 18ths usually begin with a ringing phone, followed by my parents singing me a rousing rendition of some Happy Birthday Song. It is only appropriate that since they were the first to ever share my first Birthday moments with me, that each and every 2/18 begin with the 3 of us once again. Last year was a solo. This year a memory. I miss my mom. In the past several months people have asked what I was going to do for my 50th birthday, a significant landmark day for most who have experienced it. I had no plans, no cruise, no party, no vacation, no plastic surgery, no visit to a therapist. I wanted to just do what I wanted. No accountability to anyone but MYSELF. The week before J-man and I had shared a nice "couples massage", so unless I had a migraine on that day, massage would not be planned. Hmmm..... what shall I do?

I MADE A LIST (I AM A LIST GIRL):

(Actually, the celebrating began Weds with lunch with Robi and Cami, who showered me with gifts, then dinner with Beth (who has a very special day of her own on 2/19), who loaded me up with a "cupcake" themed gift.) J-man presented my gift before he left for work at 5:05am. Beautiful Patricia Locke earrings. I did not wear them until... I'll tell you later. BUT: I purchased some beautiful fabric a long time ago for drapes in my dining room. This was the day I was going to get that done. You will see that picture at the end, tho i did actually complete it that morning, because it was on the list :D. My super cool and adventerous brother called from the middle east. He's a retired Army Spy (I can only say that now because he's retired), but he is doing work for the government in Afghanistan. I didn't have him on the list, but he trumps ink. He'll be 59 this year so he's got some experience and I loved hearing from him on MY VERY SPECIAL DAY.

OK, so on with the list:

I took a private swim lesson. I could swim to save my life, but I want productive laps, so this was my first of 5 lessons. I'll be doin' underwater flips by the time I'm done. (I did have the coach take a full-on body shot of me OUT of the water, but I'll save that to look at on days when I think I'm lookin' good. I'm quite curvey still. ;D

I came out of my lesson to some messages on my phone: SEVERAL FB wishes, and I love that, which lasted all day long). I took my messages, a voice message from Ky saying: "Yer 50!!"
Nora and Smith: Ok, I couldn't copy the audio and video part, but Nora says: "happy birthday, LuLu" and blows a kiss and gives the Princess wave. Darling.

Stopped at Meijer to pick up a few things, 3 birthday cards for friends that share MY VERY SPECIAL DAY and some chips that you will hear about later, but for now, LUNCH with friends. LaNae called me on Monday and invited me to lunch, but this is MY VERY SPECIAL DAY. I told her I would be at Applebees eating a Quesadilla Burger and Fries. I had been planning this for several weeks. So, she rallied the troops and a bunch of fun frineds met me there, to share OUR VERY SPECIAL DAY, ME and Teresa Rowe:

We dressed the same: Black pants, white turtle neck and black leather jackets, not to mention the ever-so obvious "THIS IS MY VERY SPECIAL DAY" SMILE. Here's the rest of the crowd that had lunch:

Then just some quick stuff:

New shoes: I love them. I will wear them often. Black suede pumps with platforms. Kinda sexy for black suede pumps. Size 6-1/2 of course (you can refer to the previous blog posting for my shoe story).

PostOffice: Line too long.

Car wash.

Movie: This is where the chips come in. They say "no outside food or beverages" I think they say that so that we won't sneak liqour in and get too roudy during movies, but i stuck the chips under my shirt and got in without being frisked. Melinda and Debbie took the afternoon off too, and we saw the ever so cute Valentine's Day chick flick. It was a darling show, and still is. I think I'll watch it again on DVD when it comes out. It had something for everyone. I got a free Medium Diet Pop from my frequent watchers card, or maybe they knew it was MY VERY SPECIAL DAY. My list goes on...

COSTCO: Maybe that wasn't on the list, but I needed softner salt and roses and to renew membership, so I did those things.

Quinn was next... She was sick on her VERY SPECIAL DAY. Something I have never experienced and hope she never does again. But she is still darling, isn't she?

Then to Isaac's: He was happy to see me when he opened the bag full of

7 treats. (He and Quinn are both 7 years old.)

It was dark and I knew J-man was at a meeting, so I just went on home. I had more sewing to do, but did not. I just watched Survivor and had a nice quiet evening.

THEN FRIDAY CAME: J-man did plan a dinner party with some family and close friends. I wore beautiful earrings and broach that he gave me. We ate my favorite things with many of my favorite people in celebration of MY VERY SPECIAL DAY. (Andy and Christina, Jim and Ken were unable to make it) Steve and Melinda are sitting (hidden) on J-man's left. Del and Dawn arrived in time for dinner. We had homemade pasta, Linda brought my favorite salad, the bread was perfect, Debbie made her very yummy Heath Cheescake and Kathy reminded me thruout the night that we are now in different decades (she's still 49). I love her.

It swas a fun time and yummy dinner.

After everyone left, it was a beautiful

wind-down from MY VERY SPECIAL DAY.

I got more attention than I asked for and the

thoughtfulness of my family and friends was

beyond what I could dream of.

My children live very far away and I miss them terribly every day.

The past few years have been woven with tragedy and drama.

But I had MY VERY SPECIAL DAY and I'm glad to be 50.