My birthday week was made wonderful by Marj, Lois, Winnie, Debra, Mimmi, Lesley, Elaine, Crystal and Dee. In different ways, they made me feel special and seen and loved. I appreciated all the facebook birthday greetings, I really did. But these ladies went out of their way to spend time with me. They went beyond the perfunctory greeting on social media and invested TIME. I celebrated my birthday with these ladies all week. There was cake and presents and cards. There was love and hugs. Some of them I saw more than once. Like Marj. Her and I met for coffee, just the two of us. She is a very busy lady and yet, she wanted to meet with me on Monday, even though I was seeing her on Thursday as well. We had such a nice time at La Foret and I so appreciate that she made time for me. Marj was also the one to listen to me cry on the phone because as I said, this week was also devastatingly horrible.
Dee and I had dinner on Sunday. We met in Langley and had a lovely dinner served by her son. Dee planned it and organized the details. We were both surprised when three hours had flown by.
Lois, who was hosting a pot luck on Thursday (which ended up being partly my birthday celebration) also came out to my birthday dinner on Friday. She emailed me on my actual birthday on Saturday at which point I replied that wasn't she glad she could finally stop wishing me happy birthday, lol.
The dinner on Friday at La Trattoria was the best. The food was good, but the company was that much better. Lois told me that she hadn't been with such a "raucous" group in a long time, lol. We spent three hours laughing and eating. It was perfect.
Lesley and I went shopping on Wednesday. Our plans got changed because of traffic issues, but we ended up downtown. It was actually perfect and we both found some stuff. Lesley also came out on Saturday night with Winnie and I. I don't normally do much for my birthday and Pentti was out of town. But, Ken, Winnie's husband, who had already had Joonas all day, took Emmi in the evening as well so that the three of us could go out. Fish tacos from Tacofino and ice cream were one of the best birthday dinners ever. Wandering around on Columbia Street kid free was an added bonus.
The bottom line is that I'm grateful for the friendship of these ladies. It's obviously not about the gifts and the cards and the cake, although I kinda love those too, lol. It's about them wanting to spend time with me, in person. It's about them knowing it's my birthday and suggesting a cake for our Bible study wrap up. It's about the sentiments in the cards they gave me that made me cry. So today, on international friendship day, I celebrate these women and well up with gratitude that they are in my life.
