Birthday Surprise

It was Friday afternoon, June 8, and Lynn and I were working the gatehouse.  We were very busy as is the norm on Friday afternoons.  I stepped into the rest room to wash my hands and when I stepped out looking at the drive through, there sat a man in a van who looked just like Trey, my son-in-law.  A jolt ran through me, my eyes widened and my mouth dropped open, according to Lynn.  And so began the celebration of my 65th birthday!  I went to hug Barbara and the boys, then John and Karen Anderson, the campground managers, came to relieve us and we had the whole weekend off! 

Friday evening was spent around the campfire awaiting the arrival of Derick and the girls.  At first I didn't know if he and they were coming and I didn't ask in order to avoid the disappointment if they weren't.  But John came by the camp saying Derick had forgotten his hang tag and that cat was out of that bag!  Which was fine, because they told me the girls weren't coming with him, then they did! 

I had promised the grand kids if they would come visit me, I would go down Sliding Rock with each of them one time.  I figured I could do 4 trips down the rock and those would probably be my last ones.  I suggested we go to 12 Bones for a hardy meal before this great adventure and off we went. 

The gang at 12 Bones

Derick & Leah

Barbara

Me

Lauren, Patrick, Me, Leah, Houston

Leah decided to gone down it with her dad so I took that opportunity to opt out of my 4th slide, doing only the 3.  When she came up from the pool at the bottom she was screaming "I can't breathe!  I can't breathe!"  Barbara laughed and told her she was yelling so she was breathing and was okay.  It was a very fine birthday and a memorable one in many ways.  I've said for a long time the best gift I can have is time with my kids and grand kids, and thanks to Lynn for making it happen.  The next day I got another fine gift when they all accompanied us to Jubilee!

After the service we went to one of my favorite restaurants, Early Girl, and feasted once again.  I asked everyone what they thought of Jubilee! and Patrick spoke up quickly, "It wasn't boring!"  Houston said it was "very interesting".  Lauren liked the dancer, and Barbara liked the whole thing.  Houston also liked not wearing his shoes, though they're on in this pic.

I was also happy to have good friend Ginger here to celebrate with us and my cousin William on Friday afternoon. 

Thank you all for spending your time with me and helping to celebrate the big six five!

My kids gifted me with Amazon gift cards, a favorite, and Lynn gave me a Cradle of Forestry tee shirt I'd had my eye on, and from Ginger a Pisgah Forest mug.  I gifted myself with a bottle of 12 year old Dewar's scotch and 2 new tires for the Burgman.  The tires are Pirelli radials and it now handles like a dream.  Lynn and I rode up to Mount Mitchell yesterday to try them out.  What a ride! 

I also gifted some others:  to the woman at Jubilee!  who calls the 4 directions and is moving to Charleston, I gave my "Spirit the 7th Fire" CD, one of my treasures.  To the Ahope shelter for the homeless, I gave the mattress pad from LaVerne's hospital bed.  To the young boy camping near us who had lost his favorite lure, a Blue Fox spinner.  To the customer service rep at Camping World who needed more info for the warranty work they did, I made a special trip since I couldn't get through on the phone. 

My retirement pay from my years at Carolina Power & Light starts now, and I paid off a long standing debt, so that's like a double raise!  And of course Medicare kicks in, too. 

Overall, a very fine birthday and I'm grateful to have lived this long.  Here's to one more year and a few more trips down Sliding Rock!  Oh yeah!!!