Special Days
As a child, growing up in the Emberlin clan birthdays were special. They were your special day and were totally devoted to you. I remember breakfast of my choosing, dinners that consisted of my favorite foods, and cake! My mom would bring home the most amazing cakes. Our little family of five and my grandma would settle around the dinner table to celebrate me. I would open presents and enjoy cake and lots of love. When my sisters birthdays would roll around, the process would begin again. I have always loved birthdays.
When the kids were born, we always celebrated with a family party. Their day was always theirs to do with as they wanted. Paul was born on Memorial weekend and Tammi was born on the 4th of July. I loved that their birthdays were on holidays that screamed family time.
Today, I am celebrating the birthday of Dave and he would be the first to tell you that he has celebrated a lot of them…83 to be exact. Our celebration started last night with dinner and pie with Tom and Beck. This morning was a “sleep until you get up” day. Tonight will end with a boat ride and a bottle of Mavrodaphne. It was quiet and fun.
It is hard for me to comprehend 83 birthdays. No one in my family has celebrated so many. My father passed at 57 and my mom passed at 62. I am just so thankful for those 83 birthdays and each night as I lay my head on my pillow, I pray for as many more that the Lord deems. I know that we are on his time and not our own.
I never thought it would be possible to love another man as much as I did the first, but I was oh so wrong. Dave has such a beautiful soul. Sometimes when I am sitting on the dock with a drink and my pole, I catch him out of the corner of my eye as he is standing in the window watching me. My heart swells with the pure love that I see coming from him. It isn’t long before he is coming toward the dock with two rum and cokes in tow; Granger lagging behind him. He always hands me a glass and then bumping mine ever so softly, he says, “bumps love.” We will sit and sip looking out over the cove. It is often at these times that I thank God for what we have and will have in our future.
I look forward to our final celebration tonight. We will board our pontoon, coast out of our cove, open a bottle off wine and cruise the Lake of the Ozarks. It is Monday and all of those weekenders are back to work and the traffic will be light…a perfect night to bring his day to an end and start thinking about next year.