Happy Birthday!

I had a very happy birthday yesterday and not because of the presents (they were all wonderful and more on them later) but because once again I had the love from my Wife and children and my granddaughter (well OK, all the dogs too) on my special day. And not to forget my Mother and Father in law, my brother and sisters, my brothers and sisters in law, my friends (this is like a thank you speech at the Oscars). Anyway, I have three favorite holidays: Christmas, the 4th of July and a birthday - anybody's birthday. I guess I will always be a kid in adult's clothing but a birthday combines everything: the excitement of a special day, being the center of attention (OK I said it - it is fun!) the love of those special to me, some material gratification, good food and desert (yummy cake) and increasingly for me these days some nostalgia of birthday's past. The only downside for the birthday celebration yesterday was Craig's absence since he is on a Boy Scout trip to the desert to launch model rockets. This is the number one event of the season for Craig so I wanted him to go and have a great time and hopefully he has (he isn't back yet). The upside is that we will have some post birthday celebration today when he gets back. Out to dinner (again) and some more cake and ice cream. But since this is a momentous milestone in the birthday universe (55) I get yet another special day on Monday: a day off from work - yea!! And can you believe it, yet another special day on Tuesday! My co workers will have a carrot cake for me. It is a good excuse for a cake. We all chip in for the price of the cake for each other's birthday.

I mentioned the material side of the birthday ritual. My Wife and my children and little Laura know me well and got me things that mesh so well with the enthusiasms in my life. A large cooler for camping and off road trips, a National Forest pass to let me hike and drive in the Angeles forest, gift certificates to a book shop and for iTunes (who knew I would turn into such a music addict - I never suspected it of me), shooting stuff, and a favorite over all the years, gummi bears!! When we lived in Germany the gummi bear factory was about an hour's drive away from our town. The sweet smell from making all those gummi products was almost overpowering as we approached the complex. The factory had an outlet shop which sold gummi products in an array the likes of which I have not seen since. I became a gummi bear connoisseur because of my experiences there and have a discriminating palate for the German version, the U.S. version and the (yuck!) knock-offs. Speaking of nostalgia I remember going to the Hostess bakery outlet when I was a kid with my Dad. They sold products that were 'day old' and as far as we could tell were just as good as fresh. My father called it the 'used bread store.' Of course being a kid when he took me there for the first time I loudly asked in my best penetrating kid voice 'Hey Dad, where's the used bread? You said this is the used bread store!' I remember him hushing me and the glare from the lady who manned the counter. Kids - you just can't take them anywhere.

So, regarding the actual birthday I squeezed in a trip to the shooting range (what a surprise eh?) and when I returned I discovered probably the best present of all - Mary cut the grass for me! That was a wonderful gift because I had been thinking that I needed to handle this chore when I got back. I got a free movie at Blockbuster since it was after all my birthday. We picked Australia which Kurt had seen in the theater and pronounced it the absolute worst film of all time. I however found it fun and enjoyable. I want to live where they did (I'll take the after version of the estate please) but Mary demurred. Too remote, no quilt shop and no electricity. Killjoy. Dinner out was great and I got to hear military anecdotes from Kurt and Marla. Then the cake and ice cream. Mary didn't want to scorch the ceiling with excessive candles so she used her mad teaching skills to designate one candle with the value of 50 and the other lonely candle the value of 5 which started a debate from Marla and Kurt over other combinations of values to reach 55. I guess that means my kids are smart.

What a wonderful day. Oh and the weather was (and is) beautiful. reached 92F and a light wind. Perfect.