A Belated Birthday Surprise....

Well Saturday night was the amazing icing on the cake of my 57th birthday! I really thought I had celebrated in a big way on the 16-18th, ending with a steak dinner with Mario on Friday night. We never spend over $30 on dinner, and hardly ever eat steak, so I thought that special dinner ended the partying. Well, just shows what I know!

Carrie has many hidden talents, and she can sneak with the best of them. She was laughing with me early in the evening because of how many lies she told to pull it off. And I never suspected anything, not one thing! So she did an outstanding job, and if I have to surprise anybody with anything, I will know who to call for pointers!

And then there's Mario. Burger King? Why did we go to Burger King for supper before the party? I wasn't really hungry and had only half my burger. I guess that was his way of making sure we arrived at the right time. Well, it sure worked.

And then there's the phone call from Chris just an hour before the party. "Yeh, the weather is about 70 degrees here today. I played in a softfall tournament today. When you get home from the party, we will set up our web cams." So I got excited about the prospect of seeing the Yuma Camachos on the web cam.

So you can imagine my beating heart when he, Maria, and Makenna surprised me, along with my mom, sisters and their families, and great friends.

I just have the deepest joy this morning because everyone came and had a great time helping me celebrate my 57th birthday....some more! I really did have such a great time last week, and to add the memoies of this party, well it is a birthday I will always remember.

When I got home last night, I got in bed and put on my new breathing contraption (the CPAP), but no matter how hard I tried, I could not get my body settled down. You who have no problems sleeping, you have a real gift there. So at about 1am, I took the meds that would help me. And I got 5 deep sleep hours. So I will make it today.

I guess I skipped talking about Friday....I went to the all-school mass at QND. There was an excellent homily about St. Paul and his conversion. Then radiation, (12 down, 21 to go), then lunch with an old friend I used to work with on the Language Arts Committee in the Quincy Public Schools. We went to the Mexican restaurant and feasted for about an hour while talking about our families. We both learned things we didn't know about each other. We plan to celebrate the end of radiation on Tuesday, Feb. 26, at the Pier. I may be doing lots of celebrating at that point. I do now consider myself cancer-free, until they tell me something different. They took out what they know I had, and the chemo and radiation are killing anything that is left behind. I will continue to believe that and hold that in my heart with thanksgiving and praise to God....until somebody tells me something different!

On Saturday, I dusted some places in my house that had not seen the dust rag since Thanksgiving, I'm sure. If even then! I am taking allergy shots for a pretty severe allergy to dust mites, so I need to work harder to keep the count down here. I am glad I took my time yesterday. I piddled, just like Mom does, and I got the Christmas decorations put away too. It was time! I still have some snowmen and angels sitting around, along with the valentine stuff. We are in transition here I guess.

Today is Hannah's birthday party, not Tony's as I had been previously told. (one of those little lies!) So we will head back to the bowling alley for cake and presents, although we already gave Hannah her birthday presents on Thursday when they came to our house for dinner. So I have to get my birthday smile back on my face for Miss Hannah, who is now 6 years old. Chris will be here for a few hours today too, so it will be a very fine day. And I think after church we will have lunch with the Wrights at, where else, Wendy's, before they head back home. So another good day to look forward to.

I just feel so thankful today. So thankful.