11/2/2009 - Celebrations

What a wonderful birthday! I had a really great time celebrating my birthday. I love celebrating birthdays - not in the big, fancy party kind of way, but just doing special things with people who are closest to me. So what if I am "getting older" each year? There's absolutely nothing wrong in celebrating my 40th birthday for as long as I want, right? ha! ha! Maybe I'm just not vain enough, but I don't really care if I don't look as young as I used to, or that I'm not as nimble as I used to be, the important thing is that I am enjoying life and I feel young in my heart. Of course, I try to keep my good looks (ha! ha!) and stay healthy within reason, but there's no point fighting what comes naturally to everyone. As one wise veteran actress once said, "Aging is inevitable, but getting old is optional." I continue to age but I will never grow old. My kids may disagree at some point, but it doesn't matter. There is so much to learn and enjoy in life, I don't want to spend precious time fretting about growing old. This year is extra-special. Having come so close to seeing the end of life, I do have much to celebrate - Life and Love!

I had a real treat on Saturday. My dear friend Dette flew in to celebrate my birthday with me! That was very sweet and thoughtful of her - what a wonderful gift! We both love Chinese food, so we stuffed ourselves with Chinese dimsum for lunch while catching up with each other. Blah... blah... blah... gulp... gulp... blah.. blah... choke... :-o What fun - not the choking part. After going through many little baskets of food, we managed to roll ourselves out of the restaurant and headed home. When we got home, there was a bouquet of flowers waiting for me from my loving hubby. Katie and Ellie also had a flower each for me. Oops! Someone forgot that I am still neutropenic. That means no fresh flowers inside the house. Rob moved the flowers to the patio outside the bedroom, so I can still enjoy the flowers when I open the blinds. That was a good compromise.

We went to the Huntington Gardens with the kids to walk off the calories in the Chinese garden. The place closes at 4:30, so we didn't have much time to enjoy the place. The kids wanted to stay longer, but we had to leave before the guards escort us out of the place. I promised the kids we'll be back.

Sunday morning - my birthday! Rob gave me a very nice birthday card and an IOU gift - for me to pick out when I'm no longer neutropenic, so it should be quite nice. Katie gave me a birthday card that she made herself days ago. It was very pretty. Ellie got jealous and said she also wanted to make me a card later in the day, and she did. We had freshly baked chocolate croissants for breakfast (yum!), then headed to church. We went to one of our favorite Japanese restaurants for lunch and went back to the Huntington Gardens enjoy the place. This time, we went to the Library to see the Gutenberg Bible and other book displays - they have a collection of over 400,000 rare books in the library - my dream library! They also had a section devoted to science, so the kids enjoyed looking through the telescope to see the moon (fake, of course), peered into microscopes to see tiny insects, played with lights, listened to great people talk about their discoveries, etc. Wish I had this much fun learning when I was a kid. Whenever we go to the library, I am reminded of how little I know, and how amazing our world is. I am also very grateful to all the great scientists, philosophers, historians and writers who helped us understand our world better. Once again, I am in awe of how great our God is!

After the library, the kids wanted to head to the Conservatory where they have a simulated rainforest environment and many things for the kids to "play" with while learning about plants. Then, it was off to the Children's Garden to play with magnetic sand, fountains and other fun stuff for kids. We finally left the place during closing time, feeling grateful that we live close to such a nice place.

When we got home, I had more surprises! My sister Verna got me a beautiful chocolate birthday cake, and Bessie gave me a very nice birthday cake with fruits! Yay! Two beautiful birthday cakes for me! They were both from one of my favorite bakeries for birthday cakes (JJ Bakery) - their cakes are not too sweet like most bakeries so we like them better. Well, as beautiful and delicious as the birthday cakes look, they will have to wait, because we have to head out to my favorite seafood restaurant for dinner.

We had black cod cooked at the table in a special broth, live crabs fried in lots of garlic and other spices, sauteed scallops, watercress and fish balls in hot pot, and the necessary Chiu Chow noodles for longevity. Yum! Yum! Yum! This was why I really, really wanted to have my mouth sore healed before my birthday - this is my idea of a celebration - great food and lots of love around the table! We ended the meal at home with the delicious birthday cakes - anybody can guess what I wished for when I blew the candles - duh!

We capped the day with a Bowling match (Wii, of course). And once again, the kids won! "But it's my birthday!", I told the kids, but they just laughed. They showed no mercy! :-( I think someday we'll realize that there's something in the Wii software that gives unfair advantage to players who are under a certain height. Until then, I will just have to play on my knees! ha! ha!

What a very, very nice birthday! All the phone calls, cards, email, text and facebook greetings also made the day even more special. I feel so loved. I am so blessed to have relatives and friends who care so much. Many have seen my "warts and all", but they still love me just the same. Relatives who truly care and true friends are priceless gifts from above. These are the best gifts of all. I am so blessed!

Thank you so much once again for your prayers, and your love and concern. May God bless you and your family!