"I love you, GeeCee"

Sabrina's birthday celebration ... Thanksgiving ... my 65th birthday celebration ... and in-between ... family fun!! I'd thought I'd be able to write DURING the time that the family was here but alas, that time never materialized. 

By 8:00 last night, the last guest was on a plane bound for Denver ... and by 8:30, I'd crawled into bed, feeling pretty tired ... but mostly just sad! It is hard to have family live so far from one another. On the other hand, it makes every opportunity to be together one of celebration ... whether it's a holiday or a birthday or NOT! And celebrate we did. 

Rob and I made a conscious decision to try to cook in as much as possible ... provides a lot of flexibility for other events and also accommodates a darling little three-year old a bit better. Luckily, we both love to cook ... and have learned some tricks of the trade over the years ... like make something homemade but fill in with some items from our friend Mauro, who still caters his wonderful food from Caffe Italia! By the end, it was difficult for my family to know what we'd cooked and what Mauro had made ... but it was all good! 

Enough of food (although always a prime subject for discussion in my family) and onto the other memories ... memories that will keep me warm through this 65th year and my first "winter" of retirement. 

•  Picking up my mom and my sisters from the hotel on my birthday morning and being greeted by a rousing rendition of "Happy birthday." 
• Enjoying "pedis" with all of the girls on my birthday ... minus Sabrina ... and hoping that she can go with us next year. 
• Planning the next "Girls' Weekend" because we can never get enough of family!
• Having both my sisters and my daughter pitch in and help with dishes, salad making, setting the tables, and cleaning up. Really ... what DID I do? :) 
• Sharing the genealogical chart that my friend Barb made with my mom ... with a room full of Christensens to enjoy it, too! 
• Introducing Sabrina to her second cousin Cole ... and because a three-year old's ears aren't quite that discerning, her response of "Hi, Cole ... BRRRRR ..." :) 
• Taking pictures with  my sister and my Becky ... and saving them forever. 
• Taking pictures with my mom and her girls ... and saving them forever and a day. 
• Getting txt messages from family and friends near and far. 
•  Receiving more Facebook posts than my years ... not an easy feat! 
• Having so many of the people that I love around me on my birthday ... what more can a girl ask! (No, being 16 again would be highly over-rated as the other wish!) 
• Sitting on the deck, in the early morning, wrapped in blankets with Sabrina on my lap ... waiting for the birds to fly by.
• Having Sabrina say, "Sh sh sh ... don't frighten the birds" when I spoke when we were on the deck! 
• Having Rob find just the perfect gift to keep me warm at night. (No, don't go there, people!)
• Giving Sabrina her good-bye kiss once she was bucked into the "black car" for her journey back to Texas ... with her "I love you, GeeCee" ... ringing in my ears and in my heart.
• And in keeping with the memories of JFK and of birthdays, I bring you ... Marilyn Monroe, singing, "Happy Birthday, Mr. President!"