Tag Archives: birthday

Thirty Amazing Things About My Son Who Turns 30 Today

  • He is deeply empathetic and genuinely cares about people
  • He’s a super involved father
  • He understands science and math and the world on a conceptual level
  • He isn’t afraid to speak up for someone who needs it
  • He accepts everyone exactly as they are
  • He is married to his highschool sweetheart
  • He always says sweet things about her when she isn’t around
  • He is adventerous
  • There isn’t a food he won’t try
  • While visiting somewhere new, he refuses to eat at any restaurant he could go to at home
  • He’s an excellent cook
  • He reads to his daughters
  • He loves his grandparents and communicates with them regularly
  • He’s calm under pressure
  • He never went through a “my parents embarrass me” phase
  • On a group outing at the age of 10, he saved his sack lunch to give to the homeless man we’d passed on the way there
  • He’s always been my video game buddy
  • He is super creative
  • His skills as a D&D DM rival those of any fiction novelist
  • He is musical
  • He has a freaky good ear for sounds and tones and can hear things nobody else can hear
  • For example, if he hears loose change drop on the ground, he can tell you exactly how much it is
  • He can fix things
  • His sense of humor cracks me up
  • He is kind
  • He has the ability to look beyond the surface level of any given situation
  • He has a broad perspective of life in general
  • He loves his family with everything in him
  • He memorizes random and ridiculous things
  • He is the best kid ever (except for Jesus)

Awesome Things About My Birthday

  • Birthday Party Game Night celebrating with family & friends
  • Road Trip to Colorado
  • Birthday Balloon Breakfast at my friend’s house with her son/my birthday twin
  • Saw bison, deer, and ground hogs at a nature reserve
  • Visit to the candy factory
  • Shopped Manitou Springs
  • Traipsed around Red Rocks
  • Birthday dinner on the patio in Denver
  • Pleasant conversation for hours
  • Free sopapillas for dessert
  • Co-worker luncheon at Candlelight Inn

Coming This June

  • Yard Sale for Haiti
  • Condo HOA meeting
  • Felix Adler Fest at Children’s Discovery Center, Clinton, Iowa
  • Father’s Day
  • Graduations
  • Road Trip
  • Birthday parties
  • Multiple doctor’s appointments
  • Women’s Club luncheon at George Curtis Mansion
  • 149th Annual Chamber of Commerce meeting & awards, Clinton, Iowa
  • New washing machine
  • RAGBRAI meetings & route inspection
  • My sister’s birthday
  • My birthday
Our birthday – June 18, 1982

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

  • Thunderstorms
  • Beaches
  • Book stores
  • The Legend of Zelda
  • Warm sunshine
  • Cabins in the mountains
  • Fresh oranges
  • Dinner with family and/or friends
  • Reality TV
  • Office supplies
  • Sharpies
  • Unlimited data on my cell phone
  • Caramel
  • Walking along the river
  • My birthday (in a couple weeks!)
  • Traveling
  • Laughing so hard my stomach hurts

Reasons the Month of June Will Be Awesome

  • My birthday on June 18
  • My sister Meredith’s birthday on June 18
  • My parents’ anniversary on June 5
  • It’s SUMMER!
  • Family trip to Arkansas
  • Time with people I love
  • World’s Largest Swim Lesson
  • Finishing the next to last class for a certification I want
  • Warm air
  • Planning more summer vacations
  • Nights on my patio
  • Outdoor swimming
  • Tan lines
  • Tank tops
  • Green grass & growing fields

The sunset reflected in my porch door
The sunset reflected in my porch door

Famous People Born in May

  1. Tim McGraw
  2. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
  3. Bing Crosby
  4. Audrey Hepburn
  5. Adele
  6. George Clooney
  7. Johnny Unitas
  8. Harry S Truman
  9. Billy Joel
  10. Kenan Thompson
  11. Salvador Dali
  12. Tony Hawk
  13. Stevie Wonder
  14. Mark Zuckerberg
  15. Emmitt Smith
  16. Liberace
  17. Jill Duggar
  18. Tina Fey
  19. Malcolm X
  20. Dolley Madison
  21. Mr. T
  22. Apolo Ohno
  23. Drew Carey
  24. Queen Victoria
  25. Ralph Waldo Emerson
  26. Helena Bonham Carter
  27. Wild Bill Hickock
  28. Gladys Knight
  29. John F. Kennedy
  30. Benny Goodman
  31. Walt Whitman

drinkthewildair

Birthday Parties I Remember Best (In Honor of the Fact that My Birthday [and my sister’s] is on Tuesday)

  1. Grown-up Girls Slumber Party – My 38th/Meredith’s 35th
    • Pink & Yellow polka-dot theme carried out on cupcakes, cd cases, gift bags
    • Personalized Party Music CD
    • Gift bags of goodies for everyone
    • Late night drunk Twister
  2. My Fabulous Fortieth Birthday – My 40th/(Meredith couldn’t be there)
    • Art heist mystery!
    • A Classic Never Goes Out of Style
  3. The First Time Parents Rented Falcon Field Swimming Pool Party — My 12thish?/Meredith’s 9thish
    • Guest list limited to 60, not counting Grandparents who got to come no matter what
    • An entire picnic table full of presents for both of us
    • Home-made pool party invitations
  4. Mystery Party in Maui – My 39th/(Meredith couldn’t be there but Michelle was!)
    • Murder Mystery — Carlene did it!
    • Travel companions and island friends
  5. Small Water-Games Themed Party — My 9thish/Meredith’s 6thish
    • Water balloon toss
    • Two guests each, plus 2 mutual guests
  6. Surprise Party at Organ Stop Pizza — My 19th/(Meredith was on a youth group trip)
  7. Camping Party in Grandma & Grandpa Rock’s Camper — My 11th/Meredith’s 8th

Our birthday - June 18, 1982
Our birthday – June 18, 1982

In Case You Want to Be Prepared For My Birthday Next Week on June 18th

  1. Survivor seasons on DVD :  CBS.com/survivor
  2. Triforce T-shirt:  SixDollarTees
  3. Donations to Wendy’s Butterfly Garden:  wendysbutterflygarden.com
  4. This outfit:  Polyvore.com
  5.  The Boston Rob RuleBook:  amazon.com
  6.  Any other books from my Amazon Wishlist
  7. The Big Daddy Pod Chair:  Sofa Mart
  8. Cutco Knives: Cutco
  9. Soundtrack from TV Show Nashville:  ABC.com/nashville
  10. Star Trek oven mitt:  thinkgeek.com
  11. This wall decal (size 48 x 26.5, satin copper color): Trading Phrases

Reasons to Love the Month of June

  • My birthday
  • My half-twin’s birthday
  • Lots and lots and lots of friends’ birthdays
  • My parents’ anniversary
  • Warm air
  • Sunshine
  • Outdoor swimming pools
  • Cook-outs
  • Hot dogs on a grill
  • Camping
  • Smores
  • Flip flops
  • Cute skirts
  • Bright days
  • Long nights
  • Longer days
  • Six Flags
  • Flag Day
  • Ceiling fans
  • Flowers
  • Did I say Our Birthday?  🙂

Our birthday - June 18, 1982
Our birthday – June 18, 1982

 

19 Reasons to Celebrate My Son’s 19th Birthday Today

  1. It’s his Golden Birthday!  Nineteen years on the nineteenth!
  2. He’s an amazing young man who has empathy, maturity, and wisdom beyond his years.
  3. He makes me laugh all the time.
  4. When I am sad, he hugs me until he takes away at least some of the sadness.
  5. Even at 19 years old, he still doesn’t mind hanging out with his mom.
  6. He talks to me.  Really talks.  About important things and unimportant things and dreams and goals and life decisions.  We communicate well.
  7. Hardly anything can embarrass him.  And I’ve tried.
  8. He brings his friends around.
  9. We like a lot of the same movies and TV shows and enjoy watching them together.
  10. He thinks I’m young enough to understand the music he listens to.
  11. He has indeed introduced me to a lot of new music.
  12. His smile is quick and sincere.
  13. Even when he was young, he’s always been able to talk to anyone.  People don’t scare him the way they do me.
  14. He kills bugs for me.
  15. Almost all of my favorite memories involve him.
  16. Before he was born, when I was in a car wreck, there were some scary minutes when we couldn’t hear his heartbeat.  I don’t think I’ve ever prayed harder than that hour.
  17. He supports my goals and dreams, even if they take us away from each other geographically.
  18. He loves with his whole heart.
  19. I am so proud of the man he has become.

    Caleb at the top of Haleakala Volcano, Maui - June 2010