Birthdays

Birthdays come once each year, and yesterday was one of them.  I'm so thankful for my family, friends, colleagues, neighbors, and my awesome little girl, Melody, for making the day so special.  I've never received so many well-wishes, mostly due to social media, which allows one to connect with others so easily.  How did we get by before Facebook?  Or Twitter?  Yeah, I know, we used land-line phones and pen and paper to communicate, but surely this is an improvement, right?  Or is it less sincere?  I don't know.  But I like it, and I'm thankful for the wonderful sentiment.

After a wildly difficult day of travel Thursday from Oklahoma City to home (which I may blog about in a future post), today was a pretty good day.  My daughter had decorated the front door with a poster and a gift, which was a nice surprise to come home to.  I woke up energized (despite a little bit of jet lag), and arrived early to work.  My office had been completely decorated with streamers and balloons, thanks to my colleagues and employees.  My boss led a rendition of "Happy Birthday" to serenade me during a meeting with a large number of my colleagues.  I had planned to take off early, but due to a bunch of meetings, mostly unplanned, I worked a full day, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

I made a reservation at the local Melting Pot for dinner.  Melody and I had an incredible meal.  The only negative was when our server lost her pepper gun and it bounced off the table, shattering Melody's water glass and getting her all wet.  Once the food began arriving, it was all good, though.  We enjoyed different meats and veggies, cheese, and "the Yin and Yang", a combination of white and dark chocolate, into which we dipped strawberries, bananas, and pastries.  The Melting Pot is good, but expensive.  It's easily a $100 meal.

After a leisurely drive home through Columbia, we relaxed at home, the first chance we had to do so since I got home from my trip.  It was a nice evening, though the jet lag finally caught up with me.  I had intended to publish this last night, but I fell asleep while typing this.  I woke up and saw about 300 "k"s on the screen.  So I'm now finishing this up this morning.

It's good to be home.  45 isn't so bad.  Another birthday is certainly better than the alternative.  I'm blessed with an incredibly wonderful life.  God is good.

Have a great Saturday, everyone!