an anniversary and a birthday

Friday, August 08, 2008

Time has flown by. I was getting ready for bed tonight and realized that it's been 10 days or so since my last post. Whoops.

Last Saturday was Joe and my 17th anniversary. I look at this man that I married and I cannot believe that it's been 17 years. Seventeen years. Wow. If it weren't for our 16 year old son, I wouldn't believe it. It just doesn't seem like that long at all but when I look over the history of our life together, I realize that we've done quite a bit. There have been some rough patches along the way but in the end, I just adore my guy and I'm looking forward to another 17 years. I love you Joe!

But the anniversary was just half of the fun - I had my 29th birthday (again) on Thursday this week. I decided quite a few years ago that I simply couldn't be 30 since I still felt 18, so I stopped growing older. Now I just re-celebrate my 29th birthday each year. So far, it's working. Although our son likes to state that in a few years, he'll be the son of the youngest mother ever. And before too many more years, he'll actually be older than me. What a nut!


Here's a bit of fun - how old do you *think* that I am? That photo was taken 2 weeks ago... Guess!

For the Big Day I ditched work and spent an afternoon sunning myself at the cabin on the lake. I read a book, took a nap, went swimming, and towed a few of my 10 year old twin cousins around the lake on a tube connected to a jet ski. What fun that was!

But we're actually celebrating my birthday on Sunday. A few of my sisters have cooked up something special and I get to be in the dark until the actual event. Let's just hope it's not a repeat of today when my own mother tried to off me. Yes, you read that right. She cooked up a pot of death!

To explatify... she came in with some soup she'd made with the contents of the frig at the lake. Veggies, some meat, chicken broth, etc - all gluten-free and safe for me to eat (so she said). She left and a few hours later I went to heat it up for a snack for Joe and I. I started to scoop it into our bowls when I noticed what looked like barley. Lots and LOTS of barley. I recalled a barley soup she'd made a few days ago and I thought hmmm... So I rang her up and we had the following convo.

Me: Hi mom. What is the grain stuff in this soup?
Mom: Green stuff?
Me: No, GRAIN stuff. There is a bunch of grains in the soup - what is it??
Mom: Well, let's see... that would be be.. OH MY GOODNESS. Oh no!! It's it's... barley!
Me: I thought so! HA!
Mom: Oh dear!!
Me: Good thing I didn't eat it. But maybe you'd hoped I DID eat it. Are you trying to kill me the day after my birthday?!
Mom: (a bit frazzled sounding) Oh, boy! I remembered everything else but I forgot about the barley!
Me: Yeah, well, I'm sending Joe up on Sunday to be my emissary while the food is being prepared because I don't believe that there isn't a plot afoot to do away with me. A pot of barley - do you know what that would have done to me?!

Imagine that... my own mother. What is this world coming to?! And of course, there was that time Joe tried to kill me via a truck crash on our anniversary 7 years ago. But that's a story for another time.

For now, here is a photo of sister #4's daughter as she was floating on the lake and vanishing under the dock.