Botox anyone?

Today was my birthday. Another year older. No, I'm not willing to say just how old so don't bother asking. I wasn't planning on acknowledging today's significance, but my children certainly wanted to!

Yesterday Brady, Michael, Andrew and I made the trip to the University of MN Opthamology Dept. for a post-op check of Andrew's eyes. We met up with my mother-in-law, Evelyn, and sister-in-law, Natalie, for supper. In honor of my birthday Natalie gave me a beautiful bookmark adorned with pink beads and an angel. It was a welcome gift as I have been using 1x2 inch Formica samples from Menards to mark my pages lately. Yeah, call me resourceful. ;) Evelyn was kind enough to pay for our meal and graciously chipped in some money to help Brady buy me a birthday present from the gift shop at the restaurant. He found me a gorgeous bracelet with silver leaves and little flowers made from aquamarine gemstones.

This morning I woke a little after 7am to find Brady & Ellie paging through the phone book. Still tired from my restless night, I opted not to ask what they were doing. I was a bit afraid of what the answer may be and, quite honestly, didn't much feel like dealing with it yet. About 30 minutes later I was let in on their little secret. Those 2 little sneaks had called the radio station and wished me a happy birthday on air!

This evening I was starting to get a little depressed about the goings-on of the day, or lack thereof, really. Now, I realized that yesterday I was honored with a few beautiful gifts, great company and a wonderful meal, given to me by my in-laws. And I am very greatful for that. But today, my actual birthday, seemed to be lacking. Maybe it's becuase I expected 'something' and set myself up for disappointment. Allow me to explain:

When Randy or one of the kids has a birthday there's protocol to be followed: I make sure the kids make cards for the birthday person, I decorate the house and hang up banners, I make the birthday person's favorite meal and, of course, there's always a cake and ice cream to be had. It's all a big production to honor the birthday person on their special day. Today, on my special day, I got none of that. No balloons, no banners, no favorite meal, no cake and ice cream. Today I did laundry, scrubbed the floor and vaccumed, just like any other day of the year. Nothing special about it, really. Or so I thought.

As I looked back on today I realized that I didn't get anything I thought I should have in recognition of my special day. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I really did get something. Something very special. What did I get? I got the love of my family, shown to me in the 'little' things. And that beats cake and ice cream hands down.