My 12th Birthday!

        I celebrated my 12th birthday today!  Mostly, it was met with incredulity.  Twelve years seems like a lot, and once again, the biggest feeling is of thankfulness.  I am thankful I can even compose these sentences.

What did I do today?  First, I forgot it was my birthday again until I remembered that the tee time I set was for June 28th.  I didn’t mean to do that, but there it was.  I chose to postpone it one extra day, because it has been so blistering hot here.  Not as hot as Phoenix, but very uncomfortable and possible unsafe as well.  I put it off until today, because I couldn’t get an early tee time for yesterday, and my goal was to play in the AM before it reached the higher temperatures.  I honestly didn’t know it would land on my second birthday, but it seems appropriate to play golf again on my special day.

I played with two new friends and one old friend, and I am reminded of the song I learned at Notre Dame Elementary: Make new friends and keep the old; one is silver and the other gold.  I am so thankful to have made two new friends in the past few years, and happy to keep the gold one, too.

Belinda and I are still camping with our Alto…a lot.  We went to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison on our most recent trip with the Edgertons, and we head to Jemez Falls Campground to spend some time with James and his fiancé Casey tomorrow.

Once again, life is good.  Mom and Dad are together again in their new place after Dad was in the hospital (27 looooonnnnng days of which seven were in ICU) and two more excruciating months in rehab facilities.  He made it through all of that to get back to Mom to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary together.  Just WOW!  I did some extra bonding this past year with my sister and brother, Bev and Guy, while getting our childhood home ready for sale.    

It went on the market yesterday, and it had eight showings and five offers immediately.  We met as a family on FaceTime tonight to choose the best option (they were all great offers), and we chose one with the least amount of strings attached.  All of this just added to my little celebration.

I got to hear of Danielle’s job upgrade of a permanent position on her fire crew.  This is her sixth season, and we have recently learned that our little Becca (my niece) is pregnant, too.  Finally, I can share that news with the general public.  Congratulations to Matt and Becca and the rest of the Swopertons.  Hooray! 

Here’s to the next twelve years.  Imagine the incredulous and grateful feelings after that happens.