Cindy, Cindy

Every year, the plum trees are blooming on Cindy's birthday. Since the temperatures stayed cold much longer this year, I feared there would not be blossoms to honor her day. On Saturday afternoon, however, the first blooms appeared, and by Sunday, there were dozens of pink flowers peeking through. That evening, the sky blushed hot with color in another kind of applause, giving Cindy one of her much loved sunsets. I was so glad that nature came through to honor my gal!

Her family came too. Cindy's Mom and Dad arrived Friday night to spend the weekend having fun with their daughter. Cindy and her mom fell to talking the minute Bonnie walked through the door in that companionable mother/daughter conversation that seems to pick up right where it last left off. After a dinner of tacos, the three Dixons located daubers and went to Chicken Ranch for Bingo. We'll skip the details of that particular Bingo night since it finished wanting on many fronts, and I'll jump into Saturday which was the kind of day I've come to expect with the Dixons.

After breakfast, I started making spaghetti pies for Sunday with Bonnie cleaning up after me and Cindy arm-chair directing my every move. (You'd think I'd never cooked a thing in my life with all the instructions she gave). While we worked in the kitchen, Fred worked on getting a socket set up in the shed for the freezer we bought last summer. After that, the Dixons went to yard sales. I stayed home, ostensibly to take a nap so I could stay awake for our evening out, but I got busy with other things. They came home with some happy finds, including some goofy toys for our kids' toy box and a brass planter for me. While Cindy and her mom worked on spiffing up Cindy's "My Space" page (which turned out super cool by the way), Fred and I each took a nap.

Next, we went to dinner at the Diamond Back. It was packed with people we knew. Cindy connected with folks from Columbia El, and I saw folks from Columbia College. The meal, of course, was delicious. Then we went to see "The Miracle Worker" at the Fallon house. It was even better than opening night, and we all walked out shaking our heads in wonder at the acting, especially that of Leah Bateman who played Helen Keller. (See my review of the play in the Union Democrat).

Sunday dawned sunny but cool with the plum trees blooming and the rest of Cindy's family arriving. We took over the clubhouse to eat and play: ping pong, pool, horseshoes. In addition to Cindy's family, our guests included Becky and Marianne and my brother John and nephew Lee. The cake I got from Alisha's was a hit (WHEW!)-- light as angel food and frosted with whipped cream. Cindy was gifted with wonderful gadgets —her favorite things in the world. She now owns a vehicle back-up video, a GPS, and a slew of new office gizmos. She couldn't be happier.

After our guests helped us clean up the club house and load the truck with all her new things and the leftover food (not much of that), we drove back to the house, marveling that the GPS knew the names of the roads in our little mobile home park. Move over Patricia & Map Quest—Cindy will never get lost again.

Happy Birthday Cindy. May this year continue to be full of the family and friends that are so dear to you!