More Birthday Wishes

Normally I am quite diligent about varying the subject matter of the blog posts. Today, however, I am breaking my own rule. (Actually, it is more of a guideline than a rule.) Both my step-parents happen to have birthdays in the month of April. I introduced Tom a couple weeks ago. Now is Barbara’s turn since her birthday is tomorrow.

Barb has an incredibly kind heart: When fire threatened her home a few years back, she dedicated valuable car space to make sure that pictures from my childhood (before she joined our family) would be safe; When she heard I had to put my last cat to sleep, she volunteered to go with me, even though I live an hour away from her – with no hesitation; She was also willing to use her excellent sewing/alteration skills to help me shorten a dance training skirt to a level much shorter than she ever would have dreamed of. “We’ll start by taking off less. We can always make it shorter. You can’t add back length.” Yet she just shook her head and trimmed inches off each time I said, “more!” That is the type of person she is.

My favorite story involving Barb is from her birthday years ago. We, along with my youngest sister, Rebecca, spent the day together. We went to her favorite restaurant – El Indio – then off to the zoo.

We saw the pandas, wandered by polar bears, watched an animal show, and hung out at Rebecca’s favorite reptile house.

On the way back to the car, Barb realized she didn’t have her keys. There was talk of trying to retrace our steps in the park (!!!), but we decided to check the car first. Fortunately, Barb spotted the tail end of her keychain emerging from some items on the back seat. Whew!

“Don’t worry, I have AAA,” I volunteered, only to remember that since I hadn’t driven, I didn’t bring my card. D’oh!

Fortunately my parents had lockout coverage. My dad was called and coordinated the whole thing. Once we knew help was on the way, we had a good time waiting for the tow truck driver.

Ultimately it meant that we got to spend more time together, which is what the day was all about.

We didn’t joke about lockouts for a while afterwards, or chasing the tow truck through the parking lot as he ignored our shouting and extreme arm waving, but when I mentioned that I wanted to share the story, Barb commented that it had been long enough to be funny. For me it has always been a positive memory …  with some adventure thrown in for good measure!

Barbara, thank you for joining our family. You have helped shape me into the person I am today.

I love you.