Happy Birthday To Me (60!)

I'm having a great birthday here! It started last Sunday in Kelowna, and will continue through Saturday, when we have our annual pool party, even though I've tried to disassociate our pool party with my birthday. (Last year, one of our guests asked when we would be celebrating Mary's birthday... and then it occurred to me that perhaps we should be celebrating EVERYONE'S birthday!)

In Kelowna last Sunday, Laney, Elliott, Bettina, Donald, Kristy, Paul (the OTHER Paul), Barbra, Stephanie, Aaron, Brad and Victoria all sang Happy Birthday to me at the restaurant we were having lunch in just before we left... and just after we had all sang Happy Birthday to Bettina whose birthday was actually the next day, Monday. I was tickled with this! Then later in the day, Elliott and Laney treated me to a birthday dinner at Wings before taking me on to Vancouver so I could fly out early the next day. Julie, Greg (yes, the OTHER Greg!) and wee Cali had met us for dinner and wished me Happy Birthday as well!

When I got home from my flight on Monday night, Mary gave me my birthday present early -- and what a surprise!!! She gave me Wii! Yes, we now have Wii!!! (Did you hear that, grandkids??? We have Wii!) This is a game system that I absolutely fell in love with when I played it at a party we went to in February. I was very interested in getting one, but they were so popular at the time they were very hard to purchase, so I had given up on the idea. But... Mary persevered, and I am thrilled to have it. We got it set up on Tuesday afternoon -- was pretty easy -- and I played my first game of Wii golf, and Mary and I 'bowled' later. She won, lol. You may note in the pictures that Tulip is quite fascinated with Wii as well.

Wednesday night, we had a meeting at our house of a social group we belong to, and Mary surprised me with a cake! Again, even though I tried to disassociate my birthday from this meeting, it didn't work, they sang Happy Birthday to me anyway, lol. We ALWAYS host this meeting in July, and it is always the third Wednesday of the month, so it is always somewhere near my birthday, and everyone always remembers!

Yesterday, Thursday, was the actual day of my birthday. I started it with a round of golf with my usual Thursday women's league at Greenfield GC. I wish I could say I'd had my best score of the year. I might have if I had not screwed up two holes, lol. In any case, I was out there playing. Right after my round, Hallie called to wish me a Happy Birthday, and I enjoyed our conversation. In two weeks, she will be doing her full Ironman for this year, in Santa Rosa. She did very well at her recent half Ironman in Victoria, with the best times she's ever had there. She's phenomenal, isn't she??? I'm so proud of her.

In the afternoon, Mary and I played with my Wii... first creating ourselves (Mii) and then bowling. And this time, I won!! Appropriate, don't you think?

I hadn't realized I had left my cell phone in my car until we were driving to Maggianno's. I played my messages through my sound system, and got to hear my grandchildren and Summer sing Happy Birthday to me as we drove. What a delightful experience! I have saved that message, and will play it again and again.

Oh, please note that in the beginning picture of Mary and me, that I am wearing the necklace that the Brad Truswell family gave me for my birthday! Isn't it beautiful? I thought it was perfect for the outfit I was wearing.

There were 8 of us gathered at Maggianno's for my birthday dinner. The food was excellent, they gave us a perfect table, and we could not have had a better waiter. I had a GREAT time. Someone asked me how I felt about turning 60, wondering if it bothered me. Well, no, not really. It doesn't seem any different than turning 30, or 40, or 50. There doesn't seem to be a definite line, and each decade, as it approaches, seems younger to me than it had previously, lol. I think the difference with turning 60, though, maybe that from now on... you start looking at HALF decades??? Hmmm.

Thanks for reading to the end of my birthday ramble!