You take the good. You take the bad.

...You take them both and there you have the facts of life. And Dave's Birthday this year was both. (Didn't I start another post off like this? Oh well.)


On Thursday, a day before Dave's actually birthday, we had a great get together at our house with friends. I let the professionals (hole in the wall BBQ place) take care of the ribs and chicken wings and took it easy on myself by focusing on the sides. (My crock pot mac and cheese was finally a success on it's third debut. Long story.) We washed it all down with Root Bear and Cream Soda followed by cheesecake with blueberry topping.






Did I mention it was Dave's 40th? Yes, yes it was. (Faith is saying that all the time now-- Yes, yes it is. Ha.) When one of our guests arrived (a young whippersnapper of 27 years,) he saw the Over the Hill decorations and exclaimed that surely Dave wasn't turning 50. I assured him that 40 constitutes being "over the hill" and told him to google it if he didn't believe me.

Anyway, we had a great meal, great company and a couple of rounds of Pass the Pig. You gotta get this game.




As I mentioned, we celebrated a day early because Dave was going to start a week of being the "on call" guy for the OR the next day. Little did we know that the Army was going to ask a bit more of him than that. On Dave's actual birthday, he called me at about 12:30 pm to tell me he had orders to serve a year in IRAQ starting early August. The short notice has its pros and cons, I guess. The assignment was quite the surprise, as Dave did not even realize he was on "the list" of hospital personnel that could be attached to a deploying unit. Not only that, we have spent the last two months worrying that Dave might get an early discharge because of his personal "battle of the bulge."

Anyway, that is the story of Dave's 40th birthday. Good and bad. Happy and sad.

Of course it is a blessing for Dave to serve our country and military families take their turns being oceans apart when they are called to do so. But for now, I would just like to consider the news bad and sad. Okay?


I'm glad we celebrated early and didn't have "the news" looming over our heads at the time. Still, so much to celebrate when it comes to Dave and the good man that he is!

Happy Birthday, Love!