30.

Yes. I said "30.".
No exclamation point.
Not one.
The big 3-0 did seem to sort of sneak up and then quickly pass me quietly and sweetly by, as any birthday of mine is prone to do.
I enjoyed my trip to Nashville, but what I found upon my return was a broken car, Thanksgiving leftovers, and little before-shocks of stress, (you know like an earthquake, but before, and as a warning, instead of after and as a "oh crap is this a big one?" kinda way).
It seems I have forgotten to add some photos and a few stories of my birthdays. Yes, I did say "birthdays" plural, because it seemed like I was treated to a long line of fun celebrations.
Mumsy and the Hawks made my actual day a pretty sweet day for me. First Mumsy, AJ & I went for a little hike.


Mom told me about the day I was born.
It was special, not one of those "see these stretch marks..yep, you kiddo", it was in fact one of those "I like you and you are still my baby" kinda stories. AJ asked mom good questions and also shared some sweet things that I have just treasured in my now 30 year old little heart.
We had chicken enchildadas and Uncle Earl & Aunt Alyce and Lady D. for dinner.


(We at the food, not the people).
The scrumptious dinner was followed by a word game where we were given questions to answer quietly by ourselves. Then I got to read my questions and answer them. Anyone who had a similar question was allowed to share their answer if they wanted. The questions were of course all about me and the sort that read like this..."If Linda was an author what author would she be". Animals, body of water, and more were addressed. When we finished Mumsy gathered up the papers and made them into a little booklet for me to keep. I loved it!
See how special it was already?
Well, friends, it didn't stop there.
My friends started arriving after that.




Everything was decorated golden and glittering, because it was my Golden Birthday after all. We played a pictionary-type game that was all about me even though everyone got to participate. My favorite phrase was "Linda is a blubbering whale". I am not joking, I have a picture to prove it, but choose not to post it to save the artist any unnecessary embarrassment.



We had cake, presents and a surprise skit that made me laugh so hard I was crying.
UB, AJ & Mumsy invited all of the party-goers to the dinning room area and presented the scene as any old afternoon when I come home and pop in for a visit.
Mumsy played me, UB played UB, and AJ played AJ.
Mumsy opened the door wearing a paper plate as a mask with a blown up photo of my face on it.



UB & AJ welcomed "me" and asked "me" to check the messages.
"I" proceeded to do as they asked.
What followed was one message after another of people in my life asking me to fill in, do something, participate, or follow up on different things. That was hysterical and sadly true, but what cracked me up was the fact that UB was every single voice on the message machine. He played Pastor Dan, the youth pastor, one of the doctors I work for, Brookie...just everyone.
During the messages "I" became increasingly anxious and by the end UB and AJ were showing concern about how "I" would do everything I had been asked to do. They offered to let "me" try this new thing they had gotten off the internet, saying they hadn't tested it yet but thought it might help.
So they sat "me" down, put a cooking pot on "my" head, and pulled out a hand held back vibrator. UB ran the back vibrator on the cooking pot(and poor mumsy's head)...


and then ta-da,
a knock was heard at the door.
To my surprise in walked almost all my party guests wearing paper plates as masks with the same photo of me that Mumsy wore. I laughed so hard I almost peed my 3o year old pants.



I felt so loved and celebrated and was glad it was on my actual Golden Birthday!