Diane was already up and around when I woke up this morning.. no surprise there.. I ewnt down and wished her a happy birthday. There was bright sunlight streaming in the windows and it felt so much like Spring ! As soon as I was properly awake I started in on the crepes.. Crepes have been the celebratory breakfast meal in our house since I can remember. I remember my mom making them for us when I was little.. I knew there were several spare kids in the house, so I doubled the recipe and started crepe-ing out.. Diane cut up the fruit.. Both Max and Gabe surfaced early and by about 9:30 we were ready for breakfast.. That’s normally still the middle of the night around here on weekends. We sat down to the breakfast feats and lit a candle for Sam to welcome him into the celibration of Diane’s birthday.. Everyone felt pretty good.
As soon as the breakfast dishes were clear, Diane took Gabe and his friends to go walk around Richmond.. then she came back and she, Chai and I hopped in the car and went down to the Catamount Ski Trail entrance about 2 miles down Duxbury road.. We figured the forest road there would be sunny and clear.. Sunny yes.. clear no.. there was still anywhere from 6″ to a foot of snow on the road. It was heavy and sticky stuff.. so it was slow going.. but the sun was out and so were we.. It was wonderful.. Cha had rolled in something pretty nasty yesterday.. so getting her out in the fresh air seemed like a doubly good thing to do.
After our hike, we all met up at the house again for birthday peasants and cake. It was a nice quiet birthday celebration. As always, we wrapped the presents in towels and socks.. saves on wrapping papers.
Diane got some nice stuff.. including an Ipod for her yoga music from the three of us .that Gabe had picked out. Max had also made Diane a replacement for one of a set of earrings that Sam had made for Diane.. I gave Diane something from Sam that I’d had made in Shanghai a few weeks ago. This guy had a little stand where he copied pictures onto polished rock I lent him my Sam picture button . It was so cool watching him make this by hand. using only a hand punch and a soft hammer..
When it was time for cake we invites Scott, Adrianna, and Jeff in to have come on in and join us.. Diane wanted 5 candles in her cake,. I think that’s going to be our new tradition going forward.
The middle of the afternoon we all just hung out.. Diane started reading some of the books she’d gotten for her birthday. Gabe and I spent some time working on our pond skimming set up for next week and Max and his friends worked on a music video they’re making for a contest.. It was all pretty peaceful.. Several friends dropped by or called to wished Diane a happy birthday.. It was really nice. Jeff D brought a crocus that had just bloomed, Jen brought some SamStones and a cool vase she’d made.
Maureen had made her some bath salts. Sumner brought buy a hat he’d knit for Diane..
I know she felt loved.
Around 5:30 Diane, , Chai and I took Gabe up to BRMS for Lacrosse practice. On the drive we saw a home made sign in Jericho Center that said ‘Coming Soon: A brand new McDonald’s ‘… which shocked us for a second.. until we realized that today was also April Fools!.. While Gabe was at practice, , Diane, Chai and I took anther walk at the Jericho park. There were lots of dogs there for Chai to say hi to.. It was great being outside again When we walk, Diane and I talk about all sorts of things.. Today we talked about expectations.. and how it’s so easy to put so much weight on a day like a birthday.. or how easy it is to put expectations on ourselves, how are kids are doing , etc. . At this point we’re up, around and even enjoying ourselves sometimes.. we figure that’s pretty good. Diane is such a wonderful, wise person..
Gabe got out of practice around 7:45 and we headed in to Joyce’s for a birthday dinner. Max and Scott met us there and we had wonderful Chinese food for dinner. Gabe reminded us that we’d gone to Joyce’s for Sam’s 14hth birthday and even thought we were late for a movie they wouldn’t let us leave until they’d made him a special desert (fried ice cream) as a surprise.. Tonight was less hectic.. we enjoyed our food and then placed a SamStone in one of the plants at the restaurant..
We got home around 9:30 and realized we still had a ton of stuff to do tonight.. Diane and I worked on a new version of a Sam T-Shirt that Hannah D. is going to help us get printed. We’re using a great picture of Sam and some artwork that he made.. I think they’ll be great. I’ll let everyone know when they’re ready.. Gabe and Diane then went to sleep . Diane had had a very good birthday.. I was really happy about that…
I was thinking of going to bed myself when I realized I had to get our Tax prep together for tomorrow. .. I spend about 2 hours doing that… which brought up so many memories from last year.. How many dependents do I have ? It’s just one of the many things that remind us each day of you Sam…
-jc