A Milestone Birthday

(This was written July 6th. I'm just now getting around to finishing it.) Today is Randy's 60th birthday...a milestone in that he has never been 60 before. I'm sure it will be a turning point as all these 0-ending birthdays seem to be. We started the celebration off by attending a wedding up near Hershey, PA, our old stomping grounds, and when I say old, I mean right after we were married almost 36 years ago. That is where Randy had his first long-term adult job as ass't mgr. of foods at Hershey Park. I got my teaching degree from Elizabethtown College and taught 3rd grade down in the bomb shelter of Londonderry Elementary School overlooking the cooling towers of Three Mile Island. We made good friends while there and it was bittersweet seeing our children that were not yet born during that time, all grown up with one of them getting married.

We stayed at a bed and breakfast and it was just beautiful with the horses neighing over the fences and the different delicious breakfast aromas wafting up to our rooms every day. I will get you the name of the place so you can stop and spend a little time with Frank and Caroline when passing through. Wyndom something I think.

Anyway, I failed to mention the kids flew up and off we went. We got home, spent one night and drove them back down to FL to start the next leg of celebrating. Randy and I love traveling via car. The kids do not unless it is in their neck of the woods, but we all did great. We made it down to Orlando safely, stayed 2 nights, then went down to Ft. Lauderdale, where Connie started off the festivities with a manicure for all of us. She fixed us a yummy Snapper Francaise and the next day we did a little prep work for their upcoming kitchen make-over, then we went to Morton's for a delicious dinner, after going to the beach the evening before and the next morning. It was just divine. No one entertains like Aunt Connie and Uncle Larry do.

We had to be back up to Orlando by 2 the next day so we could prepare for a little surprise cook-out for Randy. We invited old friends and old neighbors who have blessed us along the way with their friendship and time. I have to say, I thought Leah had gotten stuck with the brunt of the whole thing until it came time for Matthew to get Randy out of the house for a few hours. It was grueling, but we pulled it off without a hitch until I told Randy we were going to take the grill down to the clubhouse and grill some hamburgers to celebrate with the kids. He said he didn't want to, then I told him we wanted him to feel special on his special day. He smiled and said, "I want to cook out here. When you're 60 we can cook out at the clubhouse." I almost laughed out loud. It had never crossed my mind that he would be so adamant about where we cooked out. I finally told him that I had all the food already at the clubhouse for our "little impromptu cookout with just our family and David," Matthew's friend and their roommate. We led him to believe that Connie was upstairs taking a nap, while in reality she was already at the clubhouse welcoming people. We all trooped up the street to retrieve the food and walked in and SURPRISE! He really was surprised and it made it all worth it. We're all still marveling at how wonderful it was to surprise him, as he asks for nothing in return for all he gives.

May all your birthdays be HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!