Turning 48

I'm teaching summer school and the kids are grades 5-8 so to them 48 is pretty much the same as 80. They were cute to bring me flowers from the school flower garden and to sing happy birthday to me, but they couldn't believe how "old" I was. I can't either. I remember throwing my mom a "wake" (a.k.a. funeral party) when she turned 50 and thinking how old that was. Now I'm thinking.... "What was I thinking?!"

Mandy came to school and brought baby Kayson and Rello to have lunch with me. They brought me some yogurt parfait and Mandy gave me a gift basket with all the goodies (healthy ones) that she knows I like. I put most of them in my desk so I will have healthy snacks again. She had already given me a weekend at Wolf Creek Resort last month and she always knows what I like. She knows me. I appreciated all the birthday messages from my brother and sisters and my mom. Jackie brought up a great fact.... my birthday is 8-9-10. Thanks for pointing that out Miss Jackie. I share my birthday with my sister (who was a preemie) who is exactly one year older than I am. For the longest time growing up we always got the same thing-- different color-- matching outfits, etc. for our birthdays. You would have thought we were twins except she has red hair and is short. I have brown hair and I'm tall. Oddly, she had her son on our birthday. Kind of hard to top that gift.

Enjoyed the family bbq at Jason and Anne's. Stacy and Jeremy brought me a "Grandkids" photo frame with a different grandkid in each letter and a cute message for the 8th letter that said something like reserved for #8 (which will be here in about 6 more months). Another very thoughtful gift. What can be cuter than looking up and see a row of your grandkids faces during your busy work day... yes, I'm hanging it up at work. I'll hang it next to Rello's homemade b-day card with his little handprints traced on it and Daisha's homemade card that says "I love you mem." My children are far from perfect, like me, but they are caring and thoughtful. That is a gift in itself. I hope they always show charity and compassion and hope they are never stingy with their time or their talents or their material possessions. The more we bless others... the more we are blessed. I have seen it in my own life many times. OH, I just heard another birthday gift..... rain. We need it to clean out all the smoke from the fires and to cool things down from weeks of heat.

The electric knife my husband bought me tonight.... 18.88 (Wal-mart). The love of my family..... priceless.