Birthday thrills

Yesterday was Glory's 35th birthday. One would think that having a birthday immediately after Christmas would be a difficult thing, but it's nothing a little word called surprise can't fix.

The first surprise came at lunchtime (which I hardly ever do because work is 13 miles away), when I came home with a carrot cake. The kids and I sang happy birthday and Glory blew out the candles. We had just 20 candles, which probably made Glory feel better. I mean, 35 candles probably would have started a house fire, anyway.

We were fortunate to have a friend watch the girls for us and Glory and I (and baby, too) went to Alfy's. Now, we weren't too sure how it all would fare. Alfy's isn't exactly the Il Italiano bistro. But we were pleasantly surprised. We had the banquet room all to ourselves. Glory's chicken alfredo and my lasagna ranked right up there with what we had at a fine dining establishment, Bella Isola, in Anacortes, a couple of years ago -- and we paid a fourth of the price, too.

But what made her day, I think, was when after I got our waters and salad, I told Glory I forgot something. I had a florist deliver a bouquet of flowers to the restaurant about an hour before, so it was waiting behind the counter when we arrived. Glory didn't even see it. When I brought it to the table, Glory was surprised, smiled, and started crying. As she said, to be able to produce tears for a good thing, was great. Score one for me.

We had plans of enjoying a coffee at Starbucks, but that was not a good idea. We didn't think some yuppies and others conversing or gathered around a laptop would appreciate a crying or fussy baby. We ended up sharing an egg nog latte to go and picked up a nice red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting at Fred Meyer. We then went light looking, and had the cake after the kids went to bed.

It's not the expensive things that really count. Sure, being able to buy her a diamond ring would be nice, and perhaps someday that will happen, but I would like to think memories of the simple and surprising things go a long ways. She seems to agree.

Bill