My Favourite Birthday!

On Friday February 2nd, I turned 26 years old. I've had a lot of fantastic birthdays in the past.  Glamour sleepover parties in grade 4, a beach party in grade 5, a tobogganing party for my sweet 16. But this year - this year was the most memorable.  Keith had the day off on Friday so I took a holiday from work and spent the day with him.  Our plan was to sleep late - however the phone woke us up at 7 and then again at 8.  The caller left a message the second time - and much to my chagrin, Keith asked me to get up to listen to the message so the incessant "beep" at 15 second intervals wouldn't keep us up.  I am so grateful to him now.  The message was all the way from Kenya!  My dear Julia had called to wish me a happy birthday.  I called her back and when we got started talking we didn't stop for a hour even though we got disconnected twice!  It was glorious to hear her voice again.  I had just crawled back into bed at 9 when the phone rang again - this time it was my mom.  So I called her back as well and it wasn't until 9:30 that I once again snuggled down under the covers. The wonderful thing  was that I had no agenda - I didn't have to be up at any time and being kept from my bed by two of my best loved people was perfectly fine by me.  I finally got up around 11:15 and started to read.  When Keith got up we ate some breakfast and got cleaned up.  It was snowing huge fluffy flakes as we walked to the community centre rink.  We passed the puck back and forth for a while and when a hockey game got started Keith joined in and I walked home with snow-muffled steps to get warm. Keith made me blueberry pancakes for dinner and we drank red sparkling grapejuice and we reminisced about the first time he made me blueberry pancakes - when he proposed. After dinner we went to Dow's Lake and went for a beautiful and not-too-cold skate on the canal.  I held fast to Keith's hand - a bit scared to fall. We were both still full from dinner so he suggested a walk through Arboretum before we got some Beavertails. I found Keith reading a sign about some of the Winterlude activities.  He pointed to the snow show - it looked intriguing and I told him.  He told me he already had tickets - and led me towards the woods.  The snow show was quite possibly the funnest thing I've done on my birthday - partially due to the company! We were ushered into a curtained off scene and took our seats on the hay bails. The play began.  After the first two scenes - we climbed onto horse drawn sleighs and made our way to the next scene in the play further into the arboretum. This went on for 5 or 6 scenes and all the while I cuddled up next to Keith under our blanket and breathed in the night air.  We were fortunate that it wasn't too cold since I get chilled so easily outside - particularly after skating. When the play ended we ate our beavertails and drank hot chocolate and finally returned home.  It was a short stop at home though - since Keith had an 11 o'clock hockey game.  But even the game went well - his team won and he scored a goal and got two assists! It was a glorious day in the snow - relaxed and carefree.  I loved every minute.  I couldn't stop thinking about how blessed our little family has been - and how wonderful my life is.  Keith bought me the complete James Herriot books on cd collection (which I'm listening to while I write this post) as well as three more books on poverty and Africa and what the Christian community is doing about it.  I knew he had gone all out for my birthday this year and it made me feel so cherished.  So, you can imagine my surprise when he had just arrived home from work yesterday and I heard a knock at the door only to find a group of our closest Ottawa friends standing outside and shouting "Surprise!".  He even planned a party for me.  This is a tough act to follow - I'm glad I have 11 months to plan for his 26th birthday!