THE BIRTHDAY PARTY

Put a group of fun people together in the same place, mix them up with a liberal dose of gleeful, healthy, swimsuit-and-floater clad small fry darting around and about, open a few bottles of good red wine, laden the table with chili and guacamole and platters upon platters of mouth-watering food, and what will you get? Definitely a memorable birthday party!

It was just one of the nicest days! We started to gather at my daughter’s house around 3 PM. Within a short time we were 25 strong, and people kept arriving. Lo and behold, a delightful surprise – my cousin Wicked Wendy, and her Rob were standing in the door! She and Shan (my daughter) had put their heads together and, I must say, they are both very good at keeping a secret. My Detroit Suzie was there, and my bro, the Bird, of course, and Rey & his Susie (my Cubans) who are important regulars in our festivities. Dawna & Malcolm – another happy surprise, and their daughter Dee with her kids were also part of the gang. Even Line drove all the way from Trois Rivières to spend a couple of hours with us before driving all the way back again! Wonderful! Now we’ll work on getting Karen and Kilroy to participate next year!!!

My son, Bow, and I have celebrated our birthdays together since he was born, although he’s more aware of it now than he was then, LOL! In fact, you can pretty much say he has become the star of the show. A natural comedian, he kept us all laughing heartily.

The summer event is perfect to gather with family and friends. Bow's guests consists of boys he has know since he learned to walk. Most of them practically grew up in my home. I’m not sure they realize how much pleasure I get from seeing them all on an annual basis; meeting their spouses, watching their children grow up in turn. The youngest member at our party yesterday is only two months old (and I got to cuddle him for a good while!!), then the ages vary from two years to my grandson, Fred, who is eighteen and who was there with some of his own cronies.

My daughter’s house was perfect – lots of room, a fenced in backyard with a pool and a trampoline – and the weather, although somewhat fickle, was still nice enough to spend most of the time outside. My youngest, Jo, worked hard for two days preparing the buffet. He’s an excellent cook, so the result was delicious, a good thing to soak up the numerous glasses of wine being passed around, LOL!

I finally got home around 3 AM, the last to leave after giving Shan a hand to put some stuff away. I sat outside on my gallery for a bit, petting the doggies, still enveloped in the warmth of the pleasant hours I had just experienced. Once again I said a silent but heartfelt Thank You for the fortune of being surrounded by a beautiful family and caring friends. I’m sure I was still SMILING as I later fell into the arms of Murphy…...

Luv from the Bush in Quebec