This past week has been such a busy one. Monday was Memorial Day so we had a holiday from work. There is something quite invigorating to know that on a 'work' day you can sleep in if you want to, eat breakfast in bed if you want to, work like crazy if you want to...or do absolutly nothing. We did a bit of both. Jeff woke up early and played golf with Dan. Me...I slept in and loved every second of it. In the afternoon we had a BBQ at Debbie and Dans with Jim and Stephanie. Later in the evening Scott and Destiny came over to our house where I fixed them left over hamburgers, potato salad and fruit. I sat and talked to them while they ate and then went to bed. It was a restful weekend.
Tuesday-Thursday were crazy busy at work with generating my weekly and monthly reports. I had a condensed work week as Sandra and I had planned to take Friday off work to celebrate my birthday with Stephanie. We had planned a girls day out. A girls day out was warranted as I had a milestone of a birthday looming. I was going to be 50....fifty. Me ...FIFTY. Sounding my age I say 'where has the time gone?'
I call Stephanie once a day from work to see how she is managing, how is she doing that morning, how did Adelaide sleep during the night, how did her and Jim sleep and offer to pick up things from the store if she needs anything. She always sounds calm, sometimes more tired than others - like a new mother short on sleep. On Thursday we had our regular conversation around 1pm and I suddenly decided to offer to make dinner for them. I have had a craving for spaghetti and said at first they could come over, but Scott had been deathly sick for 2 days so I said that when Jeff came home we would take dinner to her house. With each arrangement talked about she was agreeable...just what ever worked best for me. I had a task that I needed to complete at work before I left so I worked 45 minutes late, stopped at the grocery store and took my time getting home. I walked in the door of my house and was greeted by Scott, Sandra, Jim and Stephanie. Stephanie said that they were out for a walk and decided to come to our house for dinner rather than have me take it to their house. Sandra was there as she had come to see Stephanie....oh sorry, she had come to see Adelaide and had told Tyler to come up for a home cooked dinner. I was Thrilled to think that my children wanted to be home and eat together,with me. We do Sunday dinners, but this was special, an ordinary work day made special as they wanted to send time with us. Sandra had a stressful day at work and proceeded to pick up my house a bit as I followed her around and told her to stop, relax, come visit. But she kept sneaking off until I dragged her back to the kitchen. Stephanie said she was starving and became my kitchen help as we cooked the meat added spaghetti sauce and boiled water for the noodles. We talked about so many things and just enjoyed our time together. Nobody seemed in a rush, there was a big basketball game on which had the boys enthralled. Everyone was calm - just hungry. Jeff was due home around 6:30, but Stephanie was so hungry we served dinner around 6:15. The boys ate their dinner in front of the TV while the girls and I sat at the table - food just tastes better when eaten at a table. At one point I got up from the table and Sandra moved my plate so that my back was to the hallway and front door. I didn’t think anything of the new seating arrangements and continued eating. Just after 6:30pm, Bella started barking and the front door opened and Jeff walked in. He said his usual greeting....'hello darling' to which I responded in kind and turned to look down the hallway at him...kind of. I looked at the direction of his voice ......I remember seeing someone other than Jeff and it really didn't register, it couldn't be true and I turned back to my plate and then suddenly, my mind put the image of who was behind to a name - this was real. Standing quietly behind me, waving to my family, was my older sister Cathy. Impossible. She was in Australia, no one had said she was coming to America, this could not be real...but it was. The girls say that the next moments happened almost in slow motion, my mind registered the surprise and I slowly turned back to her then with squeals already being heard I jumped out of my chair and then followed minutes of hugging, laughing, holding and kissing. We walked down the hallway or some say I pushed her as I was overcome with emotion where we held each other....like we had never been apart. She was my birthday surprise. Everyone in my family knew that she was coming. Everyone in my family kept a secret so well, I never had an idea what was in the wind. In fact 2 weeks earlier Sandra and Tyler picked her up from LAX, had her stay at their house overnight and then took her the next day to catch another flight to see friends. Apparently, there was an emotional tug of war with Sandra and Cathy as they were driving to Sandra's and they passed within 1/2 mile of my house. Tyler in all his manly strength told them to stay true to the plan and not stop at my house. (Sandra said that she felt so bad the next day at work and all she wanted to do was tell me that my sister was at her house) My birthday surprise was so out of this world perfect, I would not have wanted it to happen any other way. Sandra was instrumental in helping plan the visit and she blew Cathy and my parents away with her organizational skills. The funny thing is that of the 3 kids, Sandra has never been able to keep a secret. This has changed this year and now she keeps private things private and secrets very secret. She was funny and said later that night it was one of her proudest moments. She had kept the secret from me for months about Cathy's visit. On Wednesday at work I was getting really upset with her as she was teasing me about a 'secret' from my birthday - the big birthday party she and dad were planning. I didn't want a party, just to celebrate with my family. Her behavior was really bothering me.
Cathy had been visiting a good friend in Oregon and had planned it so that she would be in LA for my birthday weekend. Suffering from lack of sleep she ate dinner with the girls at the table, admired the most beautiful baby in the world and we laughed and laughed about how she showed up. We talked of home and family and then my mother called where we shared the emotions that had just taken place. Everyone was so excited for the 2 of us and all wanted to share in the special moments of bonding and sisterhood that had taken place. My sister is wonderful and I have missed her calm sole and companionship. We took off where we left on our last visit like the years in between had never existed.
She was so tired that she started to go to bed at 9:30 and i finally dragged myself out of her bedroom and up to my bed an hour later. I didn't sleep that well as I would wake up thinking of all the things we could do together. I wanted to get up and go downstairs and get into her bed like we did when we were kids and talk for hours. To talk about our kids our family, our hopes, dreams and share all kinds things that only girls understand.
I love Sandra for being such great organizer and secret keeper, Scott and Stephanie for being so supportive and never once letting on what was happening. Jim and Tyler for supporting their wives and me as a mother in law. And to Jeff who quietly was thrilled for me, he knew how much having Cathy be here would mean to me.
It was the Perfect beginning to what I had thought would be a far from memorable birthday.
I have an amazing family. I love each of you.
Tuesday-Thursday were crazy busy at work with generating my weekly and monthly reports. I had a condensed work week as Sandra and I had planned to take Friday off work to celebrate my birthday with Stephanie. We had planned a girls day out. A girls day out was warranted as I had a milestone of a birthday looming. I was going to be 50....fifty. Me ...FIFTY. Sounding my age I say 'where has the time gone?'
I call Stephanie once a day from work to see how she is managing, how is she doing that morning, how did Adelaide sleep during the night, how did her and Jim sleep and offer to pick up things from the store if she needs anything. She always sounds calm, sometimes more tired than others - like a new mother short on sleep. On Thursday we had our regular conversation around 1pm and I suddenly decided to offer to make dinner for them. I have had a craving for spaghetti and said at first they could come over, but Scott had been deathly sick for 2 days so I said that when Jeff came home we would take dinner to her house. With each arrangement talked about she was agreeable...just what ever worked best for me. I had a task that I needed to complete at work before I left so I worked 45 minutes late, stopped at the grocery store and took my time getting home. I walked in the door of my house and was greeted by Scott, Sandra, Jim and Stephanie. Stephanie said that they were out for a walk and decided to come to our house for dinner rather than have me take it to their house. Sandra was there as she had come to see Stephanie....oh sorry, she had come to see Adelaide and had told Tyler to come up for a home cooked dinner. I was Thrilled to think that my children wanted to be home and eat together,with me. We do Sunday dinners, but this was special, an ordinary work day made special as they wanted to send time with us. Sandra had a stressful day at work and proceeded to pick up my house a bit as I followed her around and told her to stop, relax, come visit. But she kept sneaking off until I dragged her back to the kitchen. Stephanie said she was starving and became my kitchen help as we cooked the meat added spaghetti sauce and boiled water for the noodles. We talked about so many things and just enjoyed our time together. Nobody seemed in a rush, there was a big basketball game on which had the boys enthralled. Everyone was calm - just hungry. Jeff was due home around 6:30, but Stephanie was so hungry we served dinner around 6:15. The boys ate their dinner in front of the TV while the girls and I sat at the table - food just tastes better when eaten at a table. At one point I got up from the table and Sandra moved my plate so that my back was to the hallway and front door. I didn’t think anything of the new seating arrangements and continued eating. Just after 6:30pm, Bella started barking and the front door opened and Jeff walked in. He said his usual greeting....'hello darling' to which I responded in kind and turned to look down the hallway at him...kind of. I looked at the direction of his voice ......I remember seeing someone other than Jeff and it really didn't register, it couldn't be true and I turned back to my plate and then suddenly, my mind put the image of who was behind to a name - this was real. Standing quietly behind me, waving to my family, was my older sister Cathy. Impossible. She was in Australia, no one had said she was coming to America, this could not be real...but it was. The girls say that the next moments happened almost in slow motion, my mind registered the surprise and I slowly turned back to her then with squeals already being heard I jumped out of my chair and then followed minutes of hugging, laughing, holding and kissing. We walked down the hallway or some say I pushed her as I was overcome with emotion where we held each other....like we had never been apart. She was my birthday surprise. Everyone in my family knew that she was coming. Everyone in my family kept a secret so well, I never had an idea what was in the wind. In fact 2 weeks earlier Sandra and Tyler picked her up from LAX, had her stay at their house overnight and then took her the next day to catch another flight to see friends. Apparently, there was an emotional tug of war with Sandra and Cathy as they were driving to Sandra's and they passed within 1/2 mile of my house. Tyler in all his manly strength told them to stay true to the plan and not stop at my house. (Sandra said that she felt so bad the next day at work and all she wanted to do was tell me that my sister was at her house) My birthday surprise was so out of this world perfect, I would not have wanted it to happen any other way. Sandra was instrumental in helping plan the visit and she blew Cathy and my parents away with her organizational skills. The funny thing is that of the 3 kids, Sandra has never been able to keep a secret. This has changed this year and now she keeps private things private and secrets very secret. She was funny and said later that night it was one of her proudest moments. She had kept the secret from me for months about Cathy's visit. On Wednesday at work I was getting really upset with her as she was teasing me about a 'secret' from my birthday - the big birthday party she and dad were planning. I didn't want a party, just to celebrate with my family. Her behavior was really bothering me.
Cathy had been visiting a good friend in Oregon and had planned it so that she would be in LA for my birthday weekend. Suffering from lack of sleep she ate dinner with the girls at the table, admired the most beautiful baby in the world and we laughed and laughed about how she showed up. We talked of home and family and then my mother called where we shared the emotions that had just taken place. Everyone was so excited for the 2 of us and all wanted to share in the special moments of bonding and sisterhood that had taken place. My sister is wonderful and I have missed her calm sole and companionship. We took off where we left on our last visit like the years in between had never existed.
She was so tired that she started to go to bed at 9:30 and i finally dragged myself out of her bedroom and up to my bed an hour later. I didn't sleep that well as I would wake up thinking of all the things we could do together. I wanted to get up and go downstairs and get into her bed like we did when we were kids and talk for hours. To talk about our kids our family, our hopes, dreams and share all kinds things that only girls understand.
I love Sandra for being such great organizer and secret keeper, Scott and Stephanie for being so supportive and never once letting on what was happening. Jim and Tyler for supporting their wives and me as a mother in law. And to Jeff who quietly was thrilled for me, he knew how much having Cathy be here would mean to me.
It was the Perfect beginning to what I had thought would be a far from memorable birthday.
I have an amazing family. I love each of you.
1 comment:
I am so happy your sister came for your birthday! What a special treat! I have been catching up on your blog and love that you had such a wonderful birthday! Wish I could have been with you for part of it!
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