This year will be a very low-key
birthday celebration for me; normally my husband would have me up early, bundled
up warmly, and in the car to "go find the snow" because he knew I
loved the snow and wanted it on my birthday; he always got a kick out of
hearing me squeal with delight when the first snowflakes started falling – if he
saw them before me he was always quick to say, “Val, look out the window”, and
smile indulgently when I got excited. One year he was working away from home - I believe it was the year loggers were allowed into the Mt.St. Helen's Red Zone to do cleanup logging of the blast fallen trees - and he had loaded the backend of his pickup full of snow, cab high, to bring it home so I would have snow on my birthday. Of course I shared it with all the kids on our block ;-) My husband was the block hero that day as the kids waited patiently for the snow to be shoveled out of the truck so they could play in it.
But he isn't here now … and I
don't much feel like snow this year. So, it will be a low-key day today, watching some old black-white Youtube movies and enjoying the cookies Cheryl baked; and that she and Mike brought to me
yesterday, checking on on me/making sure I am doing okay because they love me. The feeling is mutual: they are good people and I am blessed to count them as friends.
