Birthday WEEK!

Yes, it has been...a birthday week for me ;) Last Saturday, I turned that milestone page of birthdays ~ 50! Evidenced by some of the wonderful cards received:












I love birthdays...probably because in my family they were always celebrated as special occasions that were all about the person who's birthday it happened to be! In my case, it was all the more monumental (in my eyes) because I shared it with my dear paternal Grandmother. To have been born on the same day as this very special woman was always something I was keenly aware of. She had such an impact on my life and though she has been gone for many years now, her imprint remains. Some years later, as a girl in the fifth grade, I made another friend who almost shared my birthday (I am five days older...but our mothers were in the hospital with us from the beginning, so we always knew we were destined to become best friends!) We are dear friends to this day and I was lucky enough to have her at my birthday celebration last Saturday.

We will end my birthday week on Super Bowl Sunday, surrounded by kids and grandkids, eating lots of goodies and cheering for the Steelers (dressed in appropriate Steelers gear thanks to Aunt Mo!)












(I love all of the creatively home made cards from the kids and grandkids!)

I close this blog with a poem that my father wrote to my Grandma (his mother) and me on the occasion of one of those birthdays more than twenty years ago. Maybe being born in January is why I love winter so much? I am so blessed, it goes without saying, to have incredible parents and siblings and aunts and uncles and cousins and friends and children and grandchildren....all who teamed up to make this birthday especially special! I love you all, guys!!!

Here is my Dad's poem, written for my Grandma and me...dedicated today to all of my many January birthday friends:

"The Indians had a saying,
About the January thaw...
It's when the warrior of winter rested
And this is what he saw

Everything was resting
but now feels the coming spring
when sap rises in the maple tree
and birds begin to sing.

Its a peaceful time of year,
when life starts anew
Those born in that time
are very special, too.

They feel the strength of winter
and the warmth of the summer sun
They feel all things around them
And seem to know what's yet to come.

For you that time was chosen
to be placed upon this earth
Many years to the day
After your Grandma's birth."