Happy Birthday to Me...

My birthday has been grand. My day started off with waking up next to my daughter, Rowyn, and the huge wet spot created by her leaking diaper. Kevin made pancakes for our breakfast, and the girls sat to the big table for the first time (coffee table in the superyard, but with them pulled right up to it, with our traditional family lucky pennies tied to the frame), and used plates and ate pancakes for the first time; all during Little Einsteins. Dana even fed me a non-drooled on bite of hers before she flipped her plate and sent the rest of hers flying. Morning nap time was a hassle, but the girls and I all got under the sheet and I hit it up with my hands, and they loved it.

We were supposed to go to an SCA event today, but the snowstorm put the cabosh on that plan. Our backup was to go to the ECHO aquarium here on Lake Champlain, but lovely long phone calls from Page and Susan (both in Texas, believe it or not) took up most of our time before afternoon nap was supposed to start, but didn't! Kevin eventually loaded the girls in the car for a before-dinner wind-down while I ironed my pants (I'm officially back in a size 14! Hurray!) and frosted my own chocolate cake. Then we were off to Olive Garden, where nine friends awaited us - Tracy, Jim and their twins, Paley and her son Declan, and Maya, Annette and her partner Danny. It was grand, and we had between us the five best behaved toddlers on the planet. Paley drove a total of four hours just to be at dinner with us. I am so blessed.

Rowyn and Dana both even had their first bites of chocolate cake (the first chocolate/junk food we have actually given them); Dana predictably loved it, while Rowyn wanted nothing to do with it, opting instead for more Cherrios. All of the kids were really sweet and good, and Maya even did magic tricks for us between courses. It was great fun, and the same crew will be together for R&D's birthday next month, so even better!

I wore my lotus perfume tonight. Lotus is sacred to Kwan Yin; the Most Merciful, the Hearer of Cries. Talking to her helped me deal with the rollercoaster of trying to get pregnant, and now here I am - bookended by sweet little girls at my 35th birthday dinner. It seemed appropriate, as gratitude always does.

My presents, too, spoke of how blessed I am. Not in the receiving, but in the understanding and love my friends have for me - a candle holder carved from solid salt, a set of multicolored inks for my illumination, the upgrade to EQ6, a book on spiritual travel adventures by a collection of women writers (A Woman's Path), and a bouquet of daffodils, my favorite flower.

And we still get to go to ECHO tomorrow.

I might not like this getting old thing, but if it means knowing myself and being known so well by those I love, then I'll take it.