Glad it's over.......

Well today was the big day, and it was better than I had expected.  I was surprised at all of the people who wished me a Happy Birthday and by the funny videos that my daughter Sharon sent to me.  If I knew how to post them here, I would, but I don't.  I did post them on Facebook tho.

The celebration started, as I have already mentioned in a previous post, on Friday with my son Brian and his family.  We went to a Mexican Restaurant, and today Suzanne & Carson took me to a different Mexican Restaurant.  I think Carson wanted to see me get smeared with whipped cream again, but I ducked away from the waiter and told him no.  The waiter then went after Carson and he got smeared with the whipped cream.  Carson thought it was funny and so did Suzanne & I.  We also had a very good time.

My early bird daughter, Sharon, as I mentioned above, sent me 3 birthday videos by 7:30 a.m.  Two of the videos were very funny and they made me laugh.  She has a knack for making funny videos and making me smile.

I took some pictures of my day today which I will post below.  Just a reminder to some of my family, who may want to post the pictures on Facebook.  I am asking you to please not post any pictures that have Suzanne in them because she hates to be put on Facebook.  If you must post some of them, just be sure to crop Suzanne out of any picture.

All in all my day was wonderful.  Since Friday I have felt more normal than I have felt in several years now.  I think my life is finally making a turn for the best.  I am finally getting over my grief and ready to live again.

I also visited the cabin later this afternoon before I came home.  It has all grown into a jungle out there.  I don't visit there very often, maybe once a year or so.  I was curious to see if the pond had dried up because of the drought, but it hasn't.  It's Spring fed and the pond level never drops, but of course we haven't ever been without rain for this length of time.  I was surprised to see that it wasn't covered in moss either.  The neighbor must be treating the pond because I saw his small boat parked on the pond bank on his side of the pond.  

Here are some of the pictures that I took today.

MILESTONE

Well tomorrow is my birthday again.  I just can't believe how fast these past 5 years have passed by so quickly.  It seems as you get older the years pass by faster & faster, in record time.  I'm sure it's the same for everyone, but why is it that when we are young the days, weeks and years pass by so slowly?  Maybe time seems to go by so fast because we are trying to squeeze so many activities in a days time.  I know that when you are bored or waiting for someone to stop by, the hours seem to stand still.  I look at the clock and it says it's 2:00 p.m. and then 15 minutes later I look at it again and it is just 2:02 p.m., then when I think it has got to be 3 o'clock, it's only 2:15.  The slow days are rare, and very far and in between.

I have reached a milestone......75 years old.  Three-quarters of a century, seven and a half decades.  Just 25 more years to go and I will be older than dirt, hahaha.  I'll be an antique and finally maybe worth something.  I'm only kidding.  I've always been worth something, and I've had a good life full of love & happiness.  Of course, in everyone's life there is heartache, but I've weathered the storms and have come out victorious and very blessed.  I once thought that I would have to work until the day I died, but Jimmy blessed me with a moderate income.  It's not excessive, but just enough for me to get by and I am very thankful of that.  He was a good man and no one could ever say different, or would they want to.

Even tho it's not officially my birthday, I did celebrate with Brian, Reva & Brandon last Friday.  Brian had a doctors appointment nearby, so we met and went out to eat afterwards at Brandon's favorite Mexican Restaurant.  We had a good time.  I hope to see or hear from my two daughters tomorrow, since tomorrow is officially my birth day.  I always enjoy hearing from my children, and other family members too, because it brings me great joy, more joy than anyone can even imagine.  So for today I wait, but for me the time is passing by very quickly.  I must not be bored :)

Below are some pictures from last Friday.  That's whipped cream smeared on my face.  After the staff sang happy birthday to me in Spanish, and I really don't know what they were singing, one of them shouted and pointed, "Look!  There's John Travolta," and when I turned to look he smacked my face with whipped cream just like you do with a pie in the face.  What a surprise!  I didn't know what hit me until I felt the big blob of whipped cream fall from my face and land on my shirt.  I was caught by surprise and it was totally unexpected.  I've never known of anyone, or heard of anyone getting smacked in the face with a whipped cream pie on their birthday, have you?  

  

Scouring the countryside for campsites

Brian, Reva & Brandon invited Jimmy & I to ride along with them today as they went in search of a nice cool shady campsite. They plan on doing some camping this summer and wanted to check out the available campsites at Levi Jackson State Park. I think they found the perfect spot with the bathhouse and play area close by and lots of other activities for the children to do.

We all picked the hottest day of the year to go riding our motorcycles together but we had fun anyway. The hottest times were when we stopped so we tried not to stop too much. We also started out on our ride at 8:30 a.m. and we were home by 3:45 p.m. and all worn out....except for Jimmy of course. He never gets worn out. He came home and while I flung myself against the air conditioner he made a trip to Walmart to pick up a few things and then he went out to mow the lawn. It makes me tired just watching him, hahaha. I'm still flung against the a/c and you would be too! It's 100 degrees out there or pert near close, as Jimmy would say.

See how energetic Jimmy looks! I bet Brian, Reva & Brandon went home and are taking a nap. I wouldn't blame them at all. It was much too hot to ride today. OH!....and these pictures were all taken at the beginning of our ride. We all look the color of lobsters now.

Hanging out with my son, grandson & d.i.l.

Reva, Brandon, Brian & Jimmy

Brian

Brandon

After visiting with Brian & Reva one day this week we went and picked up Brandon from school....not his school, but the school where he makes a bus change. Here in the south sometimes schools share buses, and high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools have to share the same buses. Because the buses go from one school to another picking up children of all ages, it takes Brandon over an hour to get home from school. Being a country boy and living in the deep woods Brandon's high school is about 15 miles from his home.
By picking up Brandon at one of the school stops we saved ourselves another hour of waiting for him to come home....I was getting hungry. hehehe. Brandon is always on the look out for his parents at each stop just in case something comes up....like grandma & grandpa Jimmy coming to visit.
Here are some of the buses that have arrived to pick up more children. Here the children from all the schools get into the bus that is going their way, and will take them home. Brandon's bus picks him up & drops him off right at his driveway.


It was nice spending an afternoon visiting with my son Brian and his family. I wanted to invite them to eat with us at one of my favorite buffets which I knew would please all of them. We weren't doing anything at home but sitting around talking to the cats anyway, and Jimmy had also picked a whole sack of banana peppers from our weedy garden that he wanted to give to them. They love deep fried banana peppers almost as much as we do.

We had a very enjoyable afternoon with them although we hadn't seen them in a little while. Brian has been busy tearing out the old wooden bridge that his dad & I had built in 1975. In fact Brian said that Doug did most of the physical labor in tearing out the bridge. They replaced it with a new bridge. The nails in the boards of the old torn out bridge were what Sharon stepped on when she stepped on a nail this week, the day before Jerry & Pat's visit. Poor Sharon.

Brian said that all the the treated lumber from the old bridge was still good except for two of the 2x6's and they were broken. He plans on using the old lumber on another project. Brian is busy with cleanup around his house and improving and leveling up the driveway. Doug has been hauling all of the scrap metal to the scrap yard and burning all burnables. There's a major cleanup going on out there which I am very happy to see. Doug has been helping out his dad all summer with mowing, weed-eating and anything that needs to be done. It makes me very happy to see father & son working together so well. Doug is doing great and looks great too and I'm very proud of him for turning his life around. GO DOUG!!!