Friday Fun: Celebrating My Birthday!

 

                It’s been just over a week since my birthday, and I haven’t had a chance to properly tell you all about the fun celebration! Would you like to see?

                Well, poor Ryan had to end up spoiling the surprise of the birthday gift he planned for me. He chose to get me this beautiful spinning bookcase that I’ve had on my wish list for a few years now. It had arrived and was hidden away –  but when we started working on the office overhaul, he felt like I might need to know I was getting it so I could factor it into the furniture placement. I felt so awful that it had to ruin his surprise, but I was SO HAPPY to have it! And I love how it looks in the office.

                On my actual birthday, I found beautiful flowers, a card, and a breakfast treat waiting on the island when I got up. Ryan had gone to White Cottage for some birthday treats. One of them was this little coffeecake for my breakfast! And the flowers were just stunning. I have carried them all over the house ever since (still going!) to enjoy them from room to room, depending on where I land.

                Last year my birthday fell on moving day for our church, so I worked something like a 14 hour day, hauling boxes and furniture. This year I elected to work from home and wrote all day long. I’m writing Sunday School curriculum, and this was the greatest joy and gift for a working birthday, let me tell you.

                I took a break at lunchtime to go to Swiss Village to have lunch with Ryan in his new office. He found salads for us in the café, and we ate part of them (saved the rest for leftovers), and then I opened my cards and gifts from my family! Ryan had also surprised me with my favorite White Cottage dessert: eclairs. They are SO GOOD.

                Before I left Swiss Village, I went to see Mom and Dad. They were eating lunch, so I spent some time with them in the dining room. Mom sang to me and I was able to get my picture with both of them.

                Then it was back to work time! (I have the cutest little coworker.)

                When Ryan came home from work, it was time to go to my special birthday dinner. I did not know what it was going to be – only that I should dress “smart casual” and be ready to leave at 4:45.

                Check!

                I never dreamed he would make reservations at Joseph Decuis. It’s a far fancier restaurant than we ever eat at, but what a treat it was!

                The coffee flowed all night.

                We also never get appetizers, but he said we should, so we split a hummus board. Best hummus I’ve ever eaten.

                I chose the kale salad and seafood gumbo, and Ryan opted for coq a vin.

                It was the best dinner. Our servers were so kind, and we had ample time to talk, laugh, and completely enjoy ourselves.

                Because it was my birthday, I got a free dessert, but there was no way I had room for it, so they brought it out for the candle/photo opportunity, and then they boxed it up for me to enjoy another day.

                It was such a nice night that after dinner, we took a walk around downtown Roanoke, which is just cute as a little button.

                Made it home just in time for the last of the sunset. A perfectly sweet birthday. Thank you, Ryan, for making it wonderful at every turn!

Travel Thursday: Cruising the Caribbean

 

                For the last few weeks, I’ve been merrily skipping down memory lane on Thursdays, looking back at some of my favorite memories from our annual birthday trips.  I am so glad we created this tradition, sort of by accident, our first year of marriage, and that we have made it a priority each year since. Some years the trips have been super short – single overnighters, even. Other times they’ve lasted up to a couple of weeks. Different seasons have allowed for different adventures.

This week I’m looking back at Ryan’s 40^th birthday bash (in 2019), which was one of our longest trips, both in days off work and certainly in miles traveled. We went almost to the equator! (WHAT?!)

Here are some of my favorite memories from his birthday cruise!

·         First of all, one thing I love about scrapbooking is the way it reminds me of everyday things that aren’t everyday anymore, and this vacation started with one! We were living in Kokomo at the time, and we lived three houses down from Ryan’s workplace. In an unprecedented move, he took two full weeks off work, so when he left work to start his vacation, I marched right out to the sidewalk and captured him walking home. Oh, how often I met him on that sidewalk after work, and I hadn’t thought about that in so long. Sweetness.

·         We never fly anywhere because we’re too cheap, and I am also terrible with flying. These two pictures still live on my phone as my explanation to people of the differences between us when we sit on an airplane. Anxiety married calm, right?

·         Ryan’s mom died six weeks before this trip. We had it booked months in advance, and as our departure date drew near, Nita began to panic about us leaving. She would sob anytime anyone mentioned our vacation. We began to talk about canceling it because it upset her so much, but she ended up passing away in March before our trip in April. As we left port in Florida, we stood on the balcony and noticed this boat on the dock. The Miss Juanita. How fitting.

·         We had pretty stormy seas the first three days, and we were both exhausted from the last six months of our lives, helping to care for Nita. There were so many naps in those days, and they were just what we needed. We were thankful for time and space to truly rest.

·         We still tell this story ALL THE TIME. We happened to be gone over Easter Sunday (something we had not realized would be the case until long after we booked the cruise). The ship offered an Easter church service, marking the first and only time we’ve ever gone to church in a comedy club. We appreciated the offering of the service but found it interesting that most of the people in charge of the service didn’t seem super familiar with Jesus. The assistant cruise director gave the message, where she talked about Jesus on trial before “Pu-lott-tee” (like Pilates without the s) and the traditional symbols of Easter: the bunny, lamb, egg, butterfly and lily.

·         Our first port was Aruba, where Ryan agreed to the “Granny Tour” (bus tour), which I loved. My favorite part? The lighthouse! My least favorite part? The “Griswold” family that threw every kind of fit on the bus the entire time we were traveling the island.

·         Our second port was Curacao, where we rented a car and toured the island ourselves. I was extremely nervous about our safety, especially once we got away from the port area and saw bars on the windows of all the houses, but Ryan felt we would be okay – and we were! The water sure was gorgeous there.

·         On this trip, Ryan had his first (and only) trip to the spa. He had a birthday package through the cruise line, and it included a gift card to the spa. The only thing on the service list that the card would (mostly) cover was a shave and facial, so he did that. I had the best time document it (and giggling).

·         I tried ox tongue. It was not for me.

·         Ryan did the ship’s ropes course on his birthday and encountered a young boy who was alone up there and terrified. He was too far in to quit, but too scared to keep going. Ryan abandoned the course he planned to take to stay with the boy and help him complete it. The boy’s mom was beside me, watching, and she told me over and over how thankful she was that Ryan was up there and was being so kind. He’s ALWAYS helpful, even during his birthday adventures.

·         We came back from dinner on Ryan’s birthday to find our room all decorated and a cake waiting for us! So fun!

·         Of course the crowning moment of the trip was the waterfalls. You remember the waterfalls.

·         The wind was no joke on this cruise.

·         These pages crack me up.

·         Annnnnnnd we should have stayed.

Wednesday in the Word: It Will Be Okay

 

I finally made my way back to Psalm 37 after a couple of weeks away. Today I’m parking on just one verse. And my words are few. But I think the sentiment is worth pondering.

                But the wicked will perish; the enemies of the Lord are like the glory of the pastures; they vanish – like smoke they vanish way. – v. 20

                I know I’ve been slowly crawling through this Psalm all year, so we’ve both probably forgotten some of the things from the early verses. Multiple times we’re told to fret not because of those who are evil. Don’t fret. Don’t be envious. Instead…trust. Be still. Wait patiently.

                Multiple times we’re told that the wicked will fade away and wither. They’ll be cut off.

                How many times do we have to hear the same thing over and over before it sticks?

                Apparently yet one more.

                One more time we are reminded that the wicked won’t ULTIMATELY succeed. They really won’t. Eventually they’ll vanish and not be able to carry out their wicked schemes anymore.

                When? It’s not ours to know.

                How? Does it really matter?

                One more reminder for us in this list of fretting not, choosing to trust, and waiting on God’s timing.

Tuesday Tales: Thirty Years Ago

 

How is it even possible that today marks thirty years since I graduated from high school??

                Maybe the better question to ask is how it’s possible that I still remember that day in such colorful detail!

                Perhaps it seems strange (actually I know it’s strange) that this day was so huge for me, but to that point in my little 18-year-old life, this was my biggest achievement. I had not worked so hard and long for anything else. And I was ready to be done and move on to the next adventure. I remember praying that the Lord would help me to look past the nerves I knew would overtake me and fully embrace and enjoy every part of the day. And He did!

                I started the day at church, where I did the special music. (Boy there’s a sentence you don't often read on this blog, huh?) I had been taking sign language lessons and signed the song Thank You for Giving to the Lord as a message to the church that had provided such a great and strong foundation for me throughout those first 18 years of my life. There isn’t any picture proof of this adventure, because back in those days, we didn’t think to take photos in church.

                Once church ended, we had about 30 seconds to be at home before we had to be at the school for the graduation ceremony. I have no idea what we did for lunch, but I doubt we had time to chew it!

                The school gym was about 8000 degrees, and our robes were solidly heavy. Our school colors were green and gold, but at that time, the graduation gown colors went with the class colors each year. Our class colors were black and silver, so the guys wore black and the ladies wore silver. I was basically a giant roll of graduating duct tape.

                Our class was very small. I went to a public high school, but we had the smallest class by far in any year before or after us. I think we had 89 in our class. We decided to arrange the chairs to look like a 96, and our class officers provided the quote marks at the top. I was in the very back row – the bottom of the 9. Sitting beside me was one of the foreign exchange students we had. Her name was Tatiana, and she was very sweet.

                I’ve shared this story before on the blog, but it’s been a while, so I’ll tell it again. Prior to our graduation year, the school had a long-standing tradition of allowing students to choose a teacher or former teacher who had an impact on them, and that teacher could hand them their diplomas. The year we graduated, they stopped that tradition. Our class was really frustrated by that change, and we tried to lobby for the tradition to stand, but we were told in ten years we’d never remember who handed us our diplomas, so it didn’t matter, and the school board would hand out diplomas. Thirty years out, I vividly remember Bill Heck handing me my diploma. He was the only school board member I knew, and I am so glad he was the one who gave me mine.

                Here are some pictures from our graduation ceremony. I haven’t shared most of these on the blog before, because they were always away in storage when I wrote about it.

                After graduation, Mom and Dad hosted an open house for me in our home. It was very simple in light of today’s Pinterest-inspired parties, but I truly had the best time. I loved getting to see so many friends from so many areas of life.

(Hey look! It's the roll top desk!)

                And then, somewhere around 10:00 that night, I think, I went back to the school for the senior fling. Nothing like starting to participate in extracurricular activities on the night school literally ends, right?

                The fling went until about 4 a.m., I think, and by that point, I’d been up for almost 24 hours. My parents were not wild about me driving back home that late, so I asked my friend, Amber, if I could crash at her house for a few hours. (She lived within walking distance of the school.) She said yes, so I slept on the floor of her room until my eyes popped open late in the morning and then I drove safely home.

                I’m not sure how it’s been thirty years, but it has been. Today is filled with less perm…but all the memories!