A Birthday

Yesterday I had a great birthday. The kids all remembered, and called me, greetings from friends and family, making me feel loved and remembered.

My best friend here in Duluth called me early and wished me Happy Birthday, and asked if I had time for lunch. Well, of course I did. Bob would be at the UMD Football game and Rob would be working, I was delighted to go for lunch with my best friend. We haven’t had much time to talk, as both of our lives have been busy. We’ve only been seeing each other this month at the water aerobic class that we both go to, and we try to talk with each other at the same time as we are jumping around in the water! Often when we don’t see each other, we talk several times during the week by phone, but we haven’t done that as much as usual this month.

She had arrived at the restaurant before me, and when I got there, she had this gigantic Birthday card and a beautiful long stemmed peach colored rose waiting for me. She treated me to a delicious meal, and even brought two “noise makers” like they use on New Year ’s Eve, and she insisted that we blow them. We took our time and had a leisurely almost 2 hour lunch, talking and catching each other up on the month’s happenings. She and I both have the empty nest with a son being gone, so we commensurate with each other on that. She told me about her trip to the Chicago area to visit her son that just moved there. He too, is living with his girlfriend there, (what is it with this generation not wanting to get married, we both want to know!). She also has one son living at home yet, like we do. As friends, we have so much in common, but yet we are so different in many ways. She is 100 % Finnish, and I'm 100 % German, but we both come from large families, although I am the oldest and she is baby of the family. Our personalites are opposite in some ways, but the same in other ways. We both have two sons. We have become as close as sisters over the year, in fact my husband calls her “your sister”. I have to say she is my “Duluth sister” (read in the post below how we met).

What a great birthday I had. Love was all around.