Another Year Older

My dear friend, Nancy, gave me this darling apron. The banner under the cake says, " I like to have my cake and eat it too!" At the lower edge is a bowl with cherries. The banner coming from it says, "Yes! Life is a bowl of cherries!"

My birthday decorations

Today is my _____th birthday! The celebrating started while I was preparing my breakfast and the phone rang. "Happy Birthday, Grandma!" said Josiah. "Are you sleeping?" No, I'm fixing my breakfast. "Are you having cake and ice cream?" I'm sure his daddy put him up to this. I've heard Hans say: You can eat pie for breakfast. My mom does it all the time! [This is NOT true.] I told Josiah I would be having chocolate cake and ice cream later in the day. He thought that sounded fun. Next I got to talk to Annika who also wished me a Happy Birthday! It's so much fun to hear my grand children's voices. They are such angels. Rachel also greeted me and wished me a happy day. This was really a fun way to start my day.

While getting ready for work, my brother called to wish me a Happy Birthday. That was a nice surprise, too!

Arriving at work, the folks in my department were still putting up decorations, so they told me to take a seat in the library while they put on the finishing touches. Each year they seem to pull out all the stops and make my office look very special. This year there were helium balloons at each corner with more balloons on the ceiling. Later in the day, I thought my cubicle resembled the old man's house in the movie, Up! I was hoping it wasn't a hint for me to "take off."

For lunch yesterday, Nancy and I went to Famous Dave’s. We sat in a darling booth – cabin artifacts surrounding it – and a very nice waiter. He was probably in his 20’s – and seemed to dote on us. We each ordered “kids” meals, because at Famous Dave’s, they are just enough. I had the ribs; Nancy had the BBQ chicken. One of her “sides” was “Drunkin’ apples.” When choosing that, she asked him what was in the apples and he said they were soaked in rum and cinnamon. After we had finished our lunches, he asked me if I liked chocolate or caramel? I told him chocolate. A minute later he came back to our booth with a large bowl with three scoops of vanilla ice cream, hot fudge topping, and whipped cream. In one of the scoops was a large lit sparkler! He stood by our table until the sparkler died out and then took it away, telling us it was hot; he didn’t want us to get burned.

When he brought our check, I asked why he hadn’t asked to see my license to prove it was my birthday and Nancy asked why he hadn’t “carded” her because of the rum soaked apples. He replied, “I knew you were of age – but just barely!”

We had my party in the afternoon - homemade chocolate cake with homemade fudge icing and ice cream. It was a special time with some of my work friends.

I've heard from so many family members and friends - snail mail, phone calls, emails, and this year - Face book. Getting older isn't all that bad.