If you are paying attention, then the day is going to be pretty joyful, and a lot of delight will fill it.  ~Greg Boyle

*****

This morning when I woke up I looked at my phone and already had a text message from my brother David wishing me a happy birthday and that he couldn’t believe “the 40’s are here.”  I thought about it.  I began to get the sensation that I was standing in a doorway and would I welcome the 40’s into my heart with joy?  Or work myself into a rather bittersweet melancholy about how time is passing by?

“I want to sing like the birds sing,
not worrying about who hears
or what they think.” ― Rumi

The three younger ones filled out the obligatory tiny cards for Valentine’s day.

This morning they wore red (the boys) and pink (in a cheetah pattern).

And went away to school.

Rich took the day off and the two of us, alone, went out for breakfast at the diner.  They make the best mushroom and swiss cheese omelets.  We played UNO while we waited for our food.  The waitress called us “you two”.  After we ate we went out shopping.  It was about 3 degrees at that time, and this afternoon it felt downright warm at 23.

I got some books and a pair of Tiffany sunglasses….this beautiful lady helped me with the purchase (my sister).

We arrived home at noon and oldest son Jacob was awake and had cleaned the kitchen as a birthday surprise.  He gave me a big hug.  Rich made us coffee in fiesta java mugs and we watched a movie together.

Look at the stickers my parents put on my birthday card envelope!

(I love chickens and pigs)

Rich asked me why I was sighing.  (I heard that sighing makes you live longer, am I right Nicole?)  I was looking at raw chickens and wondering how to truss them without the long needle and proper butchering string that Julia Child had in her explanatory cookbook?

They may not be Julia-perfect but I bet she would be proud of my no-sew pattern of cutting small slits in the loose “shoulder” skin, in order to insert the legs.  The wings got folded under.  There.  Two very nice chicken bundles.

When Caleb came home from school he exclaimed, “WHAT SMELLS SO GOOD??” and I said, “It’s chicken in the oven.”  “OH MY WORD, IT SMELLS SO GOOD, IT SMELLS BETTER THAN HOMETOWN BUFFET!”  When I laughed he assured me he wasn’t kidding, it really did smell better than Hometown Buffet in the house.  Then he ran downstairs to where David was playing video games, “Call me up when it’s done!”

Today I am thankful for so much:

many many friends on FB writing words of birthday blessings
my parents and siblings
my husband and the way we are together
my children and how they are growing and the way they pay the ultimate compliments
home
roasting chicken especially the smell
books
the candy hearts Sarah shared with me (the pink one is in my mouth)
and so on.

Everything.

Opening it up and letting it in.