Wow!

First, there are no words for how you all made me feel today. The first thing I saw this morning before I even got out of bed was 2 messages on Twitter...one from @PensieveRobin and one from @janlo3 wishing me a happy birthday. The second thing was a flood of comments on my last post wishing me a happy birthday, thanks to my sweet, sweet friend Deb from Just Breathe. I was totally blown away, y'all! The cool thing is that it doesn't end there.

I was able to sit  this morning and finish the second book of this vacation. I can't remember the last vacation that I read even one whole book, much less two. Note to you younger moms: the day will come that you begin to have some of that time back, I swear. I was not sure it was possible, but it is.

My sister-in-law, Alice, and the girls were on vacation for most of the time we've been here so today was the only day that we were going to get to see them. They got here late in the morning and the kids spent all day playing games and catching up; essentially the same thing that the grown ups were doing. In the afternoon we decided to go to WalMart to grab a game that the kids have been wanting to try. We drive over, grab the game, and as I was heading out of the aisle I stopped dead in my tracks.

(Aside: Every time I come home to Colorado I think that I'm going to see people that I know but it almost never happens. Not the ones that I plan to see, but other people that I know. Occasionally I will run into someone's parents but rarely is it people my age. I grew up in, what was, a very small town in the mountains. It's grown since then, but I still always think that I'm going to see people. It's the nature of the beast, I suppose.)

In the aisle, at WalMart, which wasn't even built when we were in high school, was J___. This is someone that I adored in school. We were close, close friends. There was even one summer that we did virtually everything together. During college we eventually drifted apart and I had heard that he had ended up in Costa Rica. It's been about 20 years since I've seen him and you could have knocked us both over with a feather. I honestly didn't think that I would ever see him again, seeing as he's living a continent away, and all.

I cried. We laughed and talked and caught up on each others' lives like not one year had passed, much less twenty. We stood in WalMart for an hour, much to the chagrin of the rest of the family that was there. (Thanks for not ditching me!) It was a happy reunion, for certain. I cried some more.

I also have to thank all of you who posted birthday greetings for me on Facebook. I had over 60 messages there.... I don't think I've ever felt so loved by so many people as I did today.

We had a great dinner (brisket, veggies, rolls,) and my mom remembered my favorite cake: angel food with berries. 

Thank you to my family and the internet, for an amazing forty second birthday. The only thing that would have made it better would have been having Headless Dad around, too. Who knew 42 would start out so great?