Happy Birthday to Joy

On Saturday, August 13th, friends in the neighborhood of Rancho Heights came to our house to celebrate Joy's 59th birthday.  In attendance were Susan Thomas, her sister Mary Anne Schetter and her brother, John Kilker;  Joy's sister Susan Fowler and her husband Paul Polena; Chuck and Pat Smith,  James and Cori Szepkouski, Ron and Cherrie Steffey, and Dave and Donna Wilbur.  Susan Thomas, who is Joy's nurse and therapist, and her sister Mary Anne catered the affair and the food was perfectly delicious and diet-busting.  Joy's sister Susan baked a tasty chocolate short cake with strawberries and whipped cream for the birthday cake.   Our good friends, Jonathan and Jan Geller and Craig and Jackie Hill, who've been very close to Joy and me since the beginning of her crisis, were out of town and unable to make it.  We missed them. Below two  pictures of the assembled guests:

 

Chuck and Pat Smith standing in the center

The Birthday girl is on the right.

Joy tasted bits from the wide variety of foods. Because she had her favorite blouse on and because she wasn't sitting at the table, I fed her from her plate.   At one point while I was feeding her, she calmly reached over to the side table, picked up my glass of white wine, took a sip and put the glass back on the table.  This elicited applause from the guests who witnessed it. 

Joy shares her birthday on August 13th with my good, generous and loyal friend Gary Nagle, who I've known for nearly 50 years now, having mis-spent our youth together.  Happy Birthday to Gary down in Costa Rica! 

 

We also heard from Joy's friends from around the world.  In particular a lovely card was sent by Colin and Linda Carr, who now live on the coast of Spain. (They also called all the way from Spain, but unfortunately we were out at the time.)  Joy knew Colin from working with him all those years ago with the Royal Mail. Colin and Linda have kept in touch with us and came for a visit here a few years ago. Linda makes exquisite hand made cards and she put together a spectacular one for Joy's birthday.  Here's the image:

It's hard to see from the photo, but the image is layered and has a 3D effect in your hand.  Linda also included an original poem in the card: 

        

Count your garden by the flowers,

Never by the leaves that fall, 

Count your days by golden hours,

Don't remember clouds at all.

Count your nights by stars not shadows, 

Count your years with smiles not tears.

Count your blessings not your troubles, 

Count your age by friends not years. 

And that about says it all. 

God bless you all,  

Doug