When I reached the study I was surprised with a note that wished me a Happy Birthday! My beautiful wife stayed up late and printed off two letters that said Happy Birthday and "I love you!" I was surprised and I smiled a huge smile. It was such a nice twist to the morning routine. I loved it.
During Bible study I read Psalm 90 and all of the promises that seemed so appropriate for this special day.
The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you? So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:10-12
After Bible study I managed to hang in there and even enjoy my full workout. I have scaled my workouts back over the last two months due to some aches and pains in my knees and feet. I am almost back to normal. I've started icing my knees a bit more and I am confident that healing has begun. Today I managed to make it through the full workout. It was nice. I walked, lifted weights for a few minutes and walked some more. While I was in the office working out, four of my six girls came in and wished me a Happy Birthday. Gabbi was first and Ava was last. They each walked in, said Happy Birthday, smiled, gave me a high five and walked back out. All in all I got off the treadmill feeling pretty good about my time in the "gym."
When I got off the treadmill I was in for another surprise. Paige made me breakfast. She made waffles. They were delicious. I had planned to make the kids waffles, but Paige got help and made the batter and then made four waffles. Enough for each one of us to get breakfast.
After breakfast, Trish and I took a nice walk through the neighborhood. We went around to look at the new houses and to imagine what our next house will look like. We got to chat without interruption and to dream out loud. It was a beautiful morning; not too hot or cold. The sun was shining and the clouds gave you just enough cover and shade. The best part was walking along the sidewalks and the side of the road with my wife. This was an amazing morning.
After the morning walk I watched the Lorax and fell asleep for a short nap on the couch. That was followed by a nice long shower and an equally long stroll through Walmart. I picked up a few things for the grill and a few things for me. When I got home the girls and Trish were back from choir practice and I started work on lunch. I enjoyed making lunch, which included a zucchini stir fry, turkey burgers, hot dogs and chips. I also put some chicken wings on the grill, but those became dinner. The turkey burgers were great and even the hotdog was good. I don't usually eat both for lunch, but I gave myself a pass for my birthday.
After lunch we sat around and talked for a bit, laughing about the last few years, the early years of our marriage, our introduction into parenthood and past birthdays. Trish and I went to get coffee after that, both the kind for brewing and some from Starbucks. Really and truly it was less about the coffee and more about getting to spend some more time together. We rode from one end of Irmo down to Harbison and then back to the house.
At the house we had cake and ice cream. For my birthday we had three kinds of cake. A celebration of my inability to make a decision and the gift of kindness from my wife. We had a refrigerated cake from Publix, vanila with butter cream icing. We also had a red velvet cake from "Sweet Temptations" bakery and a sour cream cake from the same. The red velvet cake was unbelievable. It was so good I barely at much of the other cakes and just helped myself to the personal red velvet cake. I did share with the rest of the family.
The girls all gave me thoughtful gifts. Sydney gave me her last dollar in a birthday card. Paige gave me a CFA gift card. Cassarra and Gabbi gave me a bottle of soda, candy and t-shirts. Trish, Ava and Emma gave me two beautiful shirts. Unfortunately we had to take the shirts back to get a smaller size and longer sleeves.
After cake and ice cream, dinner, and some time for it all to settle we spent a few hours playing UNO and Monopoly Deal before starting the bedtime routine. I won at least two games of UNO and one game of Monopoly Deal. Trish one most of the UNO games and thankfully Paige won one of each.
Trish and I got all the girls off to bed reasonably early and we were able to sit and chat and catch up on an amazing day. Best of all I got to go to bed and get some rest before Ava woke up to start our night shift.
I am thankful for everyone who remembered my birthday and sent me a text, or took time to call. I am thankful for my friend Londa who calls and sings Happy Birthday to me every year. She does it even when she is on vacation. My brother Felix called and had his whole family on the phone. Daddy called, although I missed his call. I was so glad he called and left a message. Of course, when Vincent called it was a highlight too. We got to talk for a while about my birthday and what we both have been going through. Many others called or took the time to send a text message. It was so wonderful.
It was a really, really great day. There were so many more moments that I could capture about today. I am just so thankful for each special gift.
God, I am so thankful that you have allowed me to see so many years.
God, please grant me many more years of Your favor and blessing.
Grant me good health, long life and the joy of Your love and the love of
friends and family.
With love (& in triumph),
Cassius
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