Saturday was my birthday....it wasn't any special birthday. Not one that ends in either a 5 or a 0, but it was my best birthday ever!

It started out that our "birthday party" group, which gets together to celebrate one another's big day each year, had planned to go out to eat together early...not on May 3, but on Wednesday, April 23.....to avoid another friend's close birth date and corn planting for several gals. It didn't work out for enough schedules, so we moved it to Monday, April 28 instead.

I've noticed when people get older, they tend to celebrate more than one day.....so that is when I decided to participate in "12 days of celebrating Karen's birthday"...from April 23 until yesterday, Sunday, May 4...

In that time, I have gotten lots of cards........and I mailed (and e-mailed) about as many to people who I know who have birthdays near my own. I received more than my share of gifts....from my family, my birthday "group".....from unexpected people and places, and a surprise birthday dinner at noon on my "real day"! Jim and I took several people out for meals; some were Dutch treat, several we picked up the tab........several times it was me and another friend or relative who went out to eat or traveled some place special together .....

I had fun making lots of "fun size" M & M candy treats into "May baskets" by tying a ribbon handle on them and giving them to different individuals and groups for May baskets and as birthday treats... like I used to do when I was in grade school. And a group of Marys and Marthas (M & Ms...for short, a new group of gals to which I am proud to associate....with hearts as big as Chicago and.....who do great things for others, all the time) helped Jim and I pick up our adopt-a-highway road ditches which we have cleaned up for begiinig our 4th year in memory of Merry...on Saturday, my real day...

So thanks for all the memories and allowing me to be a part of each of your lives.

I don't have much time to reflect on all of this though.....because starting yesterday, since I love the job title of "being a mom", I am celebrating "10 Days of Mother's Day".......