My 75th birthday: honoring all of the people I love.....thanks to Vicky

I am old.  I am 75.  I am blessed.  A lifetime of people to love.  A life consisting of people to love.  There is nothing better. 

Yesterday I had a birthday party, and all of life's blessings flowed over me in waves.

Vicky planned a day for me to remember.  She did all of the planning for it in the weeks before she had her ablation on her back, meaning while getting lousy sleep and being in awful pain.  She got me a lot of really special gifts (more on that later), but the best gift for me was the success of her surgical procedure.  She no longer has that pain.  

Waking up I found a blog post she had created for me the night before:

http://livinginthebedofapickup.blogspot.com/2023/01/our-dear-family.html

Filled with love, showing me our refrigerator, covered with photos of our family.  What better way is there to start one's day?

Then we went for another of our 32-mile bike rides in Leisure World.  We started doing these when Candice began doing her 32-mile ultra runs.  We said we would cycle to support her.  The world record was 22 runs, so that looked like a doable number for us.

Well, nobody should underestimate Candice.  She's now up to 89 consecutive 32-mile daily runs, without missing a day.  

And we're huffing and puffing to keep up.  In the future, we'll be more careful about promises we make.  :)   

We are a few behind her because of Vicky's back procedures (3 of them) and a few days of hard rains that made it unsafe.  Here we are taking off yesterday at 5:00 a.m.:

Our rides have been a bit different the past week or so because it has been unusually cold here.  We used to spend about 1/3 of the miles on the paths for golf carts around the two golf courses.  We've dropped the golf course paths so we can stretch out and cycle fast on the roads to keep warm.  (however, we always make an exception to take at least one swing by the back of our home because we love this home so much).

Every time we ride we take two rest stops--mostly to stretch.  Vicky plans all of our rides, and leads the way.  So I get to watch her for 2 solid hours, pumping away.  Can you imagine how much joy that gives me every day?

Well, she plans our stops at interesting places in Leisure World--near a pond, on a golf course fairway, at a rec center, etc.  She doesn't plan stops outside people's homes because our lights are so bright and we don't want to shine our lights in their windows.  

Well, yesterday she made an exception.  She stopped outside my mom and dad's old home.  Nobody lives there, so we could do that.

It was very moving for me.  Because of their love for each other, I am here, Kathy is here, and all of our family is here.  Vicky only knew them for a short while, but they took to her immediately and she to them.  She loved them.

Then it was time for breakfast.  And here is where it really starts to get fun (as if it wasn't before!).

Every four days she makes a breakfast sandwich for me.  All of my breakfasts are great, but this one is my favorite.  Last night she set the sandwich maker out, like she always does.

Well, there's another dimension to this breakfast.  On special occasions she will make me my absolute favorite which is thick cut bacon, eggs, and potatoes.  Usually I would anticipate getting that breakfast, but today I knew I would get a breakfast sandwich.

So, lying in bed anticipating my sandwich, she walked in with......drum roll.....my bacon and egg favorite.  She had set out the sandwich maker as a feint, so she could surprise me with my favorite.  How fun is that?

Here is my reaction to being "tricked" like this:

Notice the little card?  Here it is.  What a card for a cyclist!

 

And look at the postmark:  1948, the year I was born.

 And my first gift, today's wine:

Notice where it's from:  Horse Heaven Hills.

Horse Heaven Hills has great fondness to us.  For several years we took an organized bike ride there, in Eastern Washington, called the Inland Empire.  We did it with Jules.

A part of this ride goes up a steep canyon, Weber canyon.  At the top of the canyon is Horse Heaven Hills.  One year the wind was against us all the way up the canyon, but we made it!

Here is Vicky riding up Weber Canyon:

 

Us at the top, in Horse Heaven Hills:

with Jules early that morning:

 

 

 (As it turned out, the wine was awfully good, too)

 

Throughout the day I received FaceTime calls, emails, texts, and telephone calls.

It was so powerful to receive all of these contacts from Jules and Emily, Diane, and Sean, from Candice, Owen, and Rachelle, Mila, Ryan, from our grandchildren (Ian,  Ida, Adam, Alden, Wilder, Soren, Sebastian, Stella and Marina), and from my sister Kathy and my brother Bill.

 

Ian even wished me happy birthday on the radio show he D.J.'s at his college:

 

 

 

Then we danced.  I had prepared a dance list that included our favorites.  I uploaded our dancing to YouTube:

 

https://youtu.be/G-yYPwf1W1U

For some reason, the video recording cut off during our final number.  I decided I wanted to keep what we had of it, though, because it was so wonderful.

 

Then it was time for dinner, my birthday dinner, my awesome dinner prepared with care and love.

 

What I wanted for my birthday dinner was not only one of my very favorites in life, but also has deep emotional meaning for me---my mother's home made noodles.  This meal has been prepared by my mother for our family meals since forever.  It was her signature dish, and everybody loved it.  She would make it whenever there was a family gathering.  Vicky is carrying on the family tradition--having made Mom’s noodles for our family many times.

 

Vicky making my noodles.  She's wearing my mother's apron, made of flour sacks by one of my grandmothers. 

 

My meal: London Broil (that was perfectly prepared and you could cut with a spoon), mashed potatoes, green beans, and, of course, the noodles.

Us eating.  It was scrumptious.  I had three helpings. 

See all of my gifts?  Here we go!

Vicky did something so....well, so Vicky.  The way she has done everything in her life for people she has loved.  

What she did was get me gifts from the year I was born--1948. And even the day!   It was mind blowing.

The number 1 on the Hit Parade on my birthday:   Vaughn Monroe's Ballerina:

Here is how the number 1 hit goes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcO8Hfmzt30

Vicky altered this card to show a woman patrol officer stopping me.  Isn't that clever?

My first photo, with my mother, right after I was born.  Look at the photo carefully--Vicky took it with the reflection of my face in it--looking at myself 75 years ago.

Then I had cake and ice cream, then some more cake and ice cream, and then some more cake and ice cream.

For the record, my weight was up 5 pounds the next morning.  For real, 5 pounds. 

It was totally worth it.

Then we got a FaceTime call from Stella and Marina.  They sang happy birthday:

Then I waddled off to bed, and got calls from Sebastian, Emily, Sean, and some man who sort of sounded like Soren.  Why do grandkids grow up?  Why do kids grow up?  Why do we grow up?

A quote from George Orwell played in my mind today:

"Maybe we mistakenly think we want “happiness,” which we tend to picture in very vague, soft-focus terms, when what we really crave is the harder-edged intensity of experience."

Yesterday I had that intensity of experience.  Having so many people to love deeply.  There is nothing better.

Thank you Vicky.  You arranged all of this from start to finish.  What a gift you are.  My treasure.