Apparently, Kevin wanted to do chapters for my birthday.
Chapter 1
Surprise #1
Kevin booked a birthday trip to Charleston to celebrate my birthday with Hattie. Fun! Then Quinn arrived home hours before we left on Thursday. Surprise!
Surprise #2
We were enjoying appetizers at the restaurant when in walked Anna!
On Friday, we enjoyed the Battery and the City Market and ice cream. We ate breakfast right in the Renaissance Hotel at Vivian Howard’s Handy and Hot. Delicious. Dinner at La Farfalle was wonderful! We were missing Lane, but I knew he had an over-the-top busy August planning for JRTC at Ft. Polk, Louisiana in September.
Surprise #3
Saturday morning as we walked to Toast for breakfast, we saw Walton Groggins (The Unicorn, CBS) running toward us. Fun! He said hello to us first. After a wonderful breakfast, we continued discovering Charleston. We stopped in a men’s store for Kevin and in a shoe store with a huge sale.
Anna fell in love with a pair of shoes (deeply discounted), and we bought them for her birthday next month. More walking. By this time, I needed a break. We also want to drop off our packages, so we headed back at the hotel. Kevin and Quinn decided to stay in the lobby, and I took Kevin’s bag upstairs.
I had just lain on the bed for a quick breather, when they knock on the door, and in walks LANE!! With Kevin and Quinn, too! Surprise number three!
All the shopping had been a delay tactic. All six of us were together! We had a quick lunch (for the boys) before touring Ft. Sumter. One of the guides told us to look for the handprints of the little slave children in the bricks. We saw them. Haunting.
For dinner, we ate a delicious meal at The Grocery.
Quinn being silly.
On Sunday, we ate breakfast at Millers All Day, then dropped Lane off at the airport, a quick twenty-four hours, but so much fun! A lot of eating and walking and laughing. Perfect!
Anna rode back home with us and left for NYC on Monday.
Chapter 2
My mother cooked country-style steak and mashed potatoes for dinner. She baked a German chocolate cake for my birthday cake. Delicious!!
Chapter 3
Friends in Pittsburgh celebrated my birthday over pizza. Great times with friends who’ve forgiven us for moving to North Carolina.
Chapter 4
Childhood friends came for a lunch that Kevin prepared. We chatted all afternoon in the pool. I’ve known two of these girls since we were babies in the church nursery, the other two since first grade.
Thank you, Kevin, for these fun celebrations that soothed the shock of the number before the zero this year and the quietness of our newly-emptied (again) empty nest.
A great birthday novella for a milestone birthday!
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