A Very Special Day ~ Late Evening Thoughts

Today was a very special day for me. I went to my eight ... uh ... now nine year old granddaughter's birthday dinner at the restaurant she requested. It is unfortunate that her birthday falls so close behind Christmas ~

This is also special to me, because it was the first birthday I've been privileged to share with her. During the progression of the disease, I thought (mind reading) that my children didn't want anything to do with me after the divorce. At the same time they thought (mind reading) that I didn't want anything to do with them. A wonderful lack of communication skills on both sides.

During the crisis I've mentioned in the last posts, when I disappeared off the face of the earth, my Mother called my eldest son, who called my daughter. It was decided that he would fly into town and they both would try to find me. It was a search worthy of "Cold Case" or "CSI." It took a lot of work, but eventually they turned up where I was being treated ~ I'll fill in the details in the next couple of posts.

What DID happen the night we talked, we all found out the assumptions we had been operating under and just how wrong they were. It been a steady progression of joy and gratitude since then.

And that brings me to tonight. We all overate appetizers and dinner and then she began to open her gifts. Of course, Grandpa did a couple of gifts... I got her a star bear while would allow her to put her name on a star ~ with the coordinates. And a sewing machine just her size and speed as she is always wanting to use my daughter's large and complicated one ~ which is fairly difficult for small hands to deal with and stitches way too fast.

The best surprise to everyone occurred when the waiter brought the cake. As we were sitting down and deciding what to order, I realized that some fun gesture was needed to mark the occasion. I left the table and talked extensively to the bartender. We were discussing fun non-alcoholic drinks and she made the suggestion of a type of margarita that isn't ordered very much, but which would be great without "booze." Soooo when the cake arrived these frothy pink (her favorite color) drinks arrived with whipped cream on the top. I then had everyone at the table propose a toast to her ... and after each one she was treated to clinking glasses and "hear-hear!" Ah yes, everyone had to toast her which was quite a surprise, but being the oldest at the table, I think I pulled rank ...

I am somewhat saddened at the ones I had missed, but was incredibly grateful that I managed to be there to share this one. I am also grateful that for as long as I'm alive, I'll be able to share in all my grandkid's birthdays.

--more tomorrow