SURPRISE!!

Monday is a big birthday for me (60!), so my only wish was to have dinner with my children, which was on Saturday night at my favorite Austin, TX restaurant The Eastside Cafe. Of course, daughter AE and KA from Seattle would not come, but Austin was an ideal location for daughter MJ from San Antonio and son BJ from Houston to meet us, because DC and 8-months-pregnant AA live there.

So we drove to Austin on Saturday, with two slight mishaps on the way. First, a Suburban sounded (and looked) like it hit our car when we were turning left from the right lane onto a one-way street--and the Suburban on our left went straight! We both stopped, but could see no damage, except for a scrape low on the front left fender, which seemed too low to be from the Suburban. So with a sigh of relief, we went on. Then about 10 minutes later, I realized that I had brought blouses along but NOT my skirt, so back home we drove. (That turned out to be beneficial, because we decided to make our own sandwiches for our lunch before driving on.)

We met at DC and AA's home in Austin and got to see the future baby nursery (in 3-4 weeks!), which is painted aqua with pink accents. They know they are having a baby girl, whose name will be Avery Elizabeth. Right now it is estimated, from a sonogram, that she weighs about 6 pounds.

After BJ and his girl friend TP got there, MJ arrived. We were telling her about the above-mentioned misadventures when suddenly from the kitchen came two figures I was not expecting at all -- AA and KA! From Seattle! MJ had picked them up at the Austin Airport for their 24-hour visit to TX. Husband CB and the kids had planned this for months to surprise me; I am overwhelmed by their love.

An even better surprise was my present from my children--a proposed pre-Christmas portrait of them all, including Avery! The last portrait was taken in 1997, and I am so pleased and excited that they'll do this for me. What a gift!

Today is the last day I will be 59, and I already received the best birthday presents possible -- and my birthday has not even come yet!