And The Beat Goes On......

Are you old enough to remember the song that the subject line comes from? :D

Yesterday was a great day! I told you about the day's events, but last night my celebration continued until almost 11:00 PM as my kids and grandkids called. Now this is a big deal, because I think it is the first birthday in several years they've all called on the date itself!

Our family doesn't stand on lots of formality, as we usually had a week or so of celebrations, especially when the birth date is during the week. When they were all still at home, we had a small family recognition of the birthday on it's day, sometimes with a small cake, but the fancy cake and party and gifts were on the weekend.

As the kids moved away and lives became busy, often the phoned birthday wishes and cards came whenever they thought of it and were close to the phone at the same time. We tried to call them on THE day, but then often called again on the weekend so there was more time to visit. And so it became our tradition to celebrate birthdays over a number of days.

But yesterday ... I got to talk with all five of them and several grandchildren on the exact birthday! Annette saved her call until about 10:30 my time on purpose ... she has traditionally been the last to call, sometimes calling a week after my birthday because she was busy or forgot or the time was late due to time zones, etc., and it has become our joke! Life is good, indeed!

And it's not over, true to the tradition. I got to have a long chat with Terri, but her children were already in bed (Florida, two hours ahead of me), so she is going to have them call me later in the week. Kylee in Central time zone called me next ... on her very own cell phone, thank you very much, with her parents singing the birthday song with her in the background. (BTW, when her mommy got a new cell they decided to give K the old one to help them stay in touch. She is 11, so it's not terribly young. All three of them have busy schedules, and if there is a change of plans in who is picking her up, this will actually be a blessing for them all. And since we are all on Verizon, K can call her Grammy anytime she wants without worrying about "costs," and when she learned that, she was delighted!) I'd talked with Allan early in the day, and he was home sick for the day so I checked back in with him around bedtime, so I got two good wishes from him. Amber called a little after dinner time, and we had a nice visit. I then talked with granddaughter April, who is in her teens and involved in a lot of activities at school, so she isn't always home when her mom and I talk, so it was a nice bonus. Amber and Annette are both on the West Coast, Seattle area, meaning I got birthday wishes from all four continental US time zones!

All those wonderful calls, lunch with friends AND cheesecake, dinner with good friends at my home last Saturday, what could make my birthday better? Well, it ain't over yet! Remember that Gail is taking me tonight to see the Japanese drum show. YEAH!!

Now, I'm going to get off here and get busy figuring out what I can do to extend this birthday through the next weekend!

Life is beautiful!!!!