Yesterday I reached the milestone most of the world's grandmothers have reached - many of them before they become grandmothers. I am now a half-century old.
I had high hopes for a big celebration, but Don and I did the best we could. We incorporated some of the things we had been hoping to do for almost a year in the process.
My dream was to have a birthday party in Palm Springs, which would have included the show put on by Sandy Hackett's Rat Pack and the dinner at Davey's Hideaway. We did in fact go to Palm Springs to do those two things. But by ourselves, and for only about six hours.
My parents have elected to come here next weekend to celebrate my brother's 47th birthday (which is Wednesday) in San Diego with me, Don and the Hughart/Lepore family. We will be doing a nice dinner Friday night somewhere in San Diego or Coronado, and attending a Jimmy Buffett concert at San Diego State University on Saturday night. They spent the days just before my birthday attending a water tour from the Bay Area to Reno, and unfortunately, coming down with bad colds.
And there wasn't anyone else, even here in Riverside, who wanted to go out to Palm Springs. We really don't have close friends here in Riverside. I wish I had been able to let my friends in the Victor Valley know of my plans, because I think with sufficient advanced notice I could have more strongly encouraged their participation. But I couldn't get Don to commit to any of this until the middle of February. We made a reservation at Davey's in the middle of the last week in February, but even on Saturday morning we had to have a frustrating conversation about how much I was looking forward to an enjoyable meal at a restaurant that would be a step up from Old Spaghetti Factory.
The show and dinner were the only presents given me so far by human beings. God gave me a nice present though. My pastor had an alter call on my birthday, and I believe there were close to 200 people who responded. This includes one person I once considered a friend, but who clearly turned out not to be one. That person and I normally do not attend the same service, but he and his wife did attend the 5 p.m. service on my birthday. He is rededicating his life to the Lord, and I pray that those who are still his friends will give him the support to grow into the person God wants him to be, as well as the other 199 or so who made decisions.
And for me, I pray that I will act in a way that reflects a half-century of maturity, and 29 years of a personal relationship with the Lord.
As for the cupcakes, they were my gift to 47 other people. I took 48 of them to the weekly barbecue Sandals holds before the 5 p.m. service. The first 48 cupcake lovers in line (one of which was me) got to sample my cupcakes. These are the second bunch of cupcakes I have ever taken to Sandals. The first bunch won the "best cake" award at a cupcake contest we had in November.
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