Dear Reader:

Isn’t it wonderful that life is never dull? Today Jakie and I share a birthday together and we are literally sharing it side by side…dividing the day in half.

A brunch birthday at 10:00 a.m. for Jakie and his “Little Blue Truck” birthday party starts the day with family and little cousins. He is turning 2…and I am not.

After the party I am staying on and hopefully we can rest a little before we get ready, later in the afternoon, and head to the Oaks for my birthday dinner! I am beyond excited! Adults only!

When I turned sixty the “kids” told me we were going there but surprised me instead with a “surprise birthday party” with old friends and new friends and family on Daniel Island in a big entertainment room near Walsh’s condo.

I remember it was there I made the announcement that I had just learned I was going to be a grandmother for the first time! (Eva Cate was ‘still in the oven’!) Wow…so hard to believe! (I was not quite two years into my continuing cancer fight at the time…I was diagnosed when I was 58)

So it has taken awhile to get to the Oaks but here I come! And nobody is happier to turn another year older than me! (Isn’t the building so “Charlestonese”?)

*I remember a couple of years ago when the American Cancer Society started their Birthday Campaign advertisements. They always made me tear up…but this year I am just so happy to be alive and having a birthday!

Anthem: More Birthdays Movement (Long Version) – YouTube

…And when the singing begins today…I, too, will look upon this song with a different perspective…it is a Victory Song!

KEITH URBAN – YouTube

Now if this isn’t enough excitement for one day….let’s do sprinkle in some more! Yesterday afternoon my nephew Lee and his beautiful wife, Vikki, became the proud parents of a beautiful baby boy. (I really thought for awhile there he was going to join Jakie and me on the 24th.)

But according to Mother Goose and her nursery rhyme…“Friday’s child is loving and giving” whereas, if he had waited, he would have been a Saturday’s child (like I was actually) and had “to work hard for a living” which I did! So Friday worked out beautifully…and with two such musically gifted parents…he shares his birthday with the likes of Ray Charles and Bruce Springsteen. Not bad at all!

I am especially happy our newest addition to the family shares the zodiac sign of the scales- Libra- (Sept 23-Oct 22) with Jakie and myself. (Even-tempered….strives to live a balanced life and is very creative!) We are the three amigos! 

So none of us (and as Vikki discovered yesterday – I feel sure- giving natural birth) know how strong we are until we find ourselves in situations that call for strength and in God we find it.

Great team work yesterday Lee and Vikki! Lee told me that Vikki is his “hero.” A long labor but she hung in there the whole time.

Psalm 46:1  “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble” (and good times!)

(*Will have photos of latest family addition soon…but want to respect Lee, Vikki, and Baby’s time alone to get to know each other for right now.)

So until tomorrow…Thank you Father for continuing life and for new life…both are miracles from You!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh