Sunday, September 30, 2012

"THE BIRTHDAY BOY TURNS 17"

The Birthday boy opening presents

"Happy Birthday to You!!"

THE BIRTHDAY BOY
SURROUNDED BY FRIENDS
AND FAMILY

Hans playing with his food
THE PARTY WAS INSIDE
AND OUT SIDE!
FRIENDS AND FAMILY ONE IN THE SAME


AUNT AND NIECE
THE PARTY PATIO
SANDY, ALWAYS IN MY HEART

LARRY, LAWREL AND DEB
OOOOH TOO MUCH FOOD!!

BFF NANCY, STEVE AND ALLIE

SO MUCH WONDERUL FOOD
FROM EVERYONE!



"They" say a picture is worth a thousand words. In this case it is so true. We had such a large group of loving friends and family (not that there's much of a diffence with these folks). Everyone that came has been a part of our life for so many years, some of them even before Zack was born. We all came together to celebrate an amazing young man. (okay, maybe some came for the fish). What an amazing day. Those that haven't seen Zack in awhile were able to see that he is doing well, hear some of his journey and be there to love and support him ( and us).

Most of the day Zack was sitting in a circle of young men, cousins and friends alike, making jokes, looking at his charred car, and laughing about this and that. Frank was busy with Hans cooking the fish, some fried and some grilled, all delicious!! Frank and Jeff fished most of the year to catch enough for today's meal and was it ever worth it.

There were people in the kitchen, dining room, living room, front porch, patio and driveway. It was standing room only, around 30 + people in all.There was fish, hush puppies, potato salad, guacamole (my first try at making it), beans, cakes, banana pudding, rolls, macaroni and cheese, sausage balls, fried mushrooms, halapeno poppers, chips, dip on and on and on..... At the end of the evening there was a little fish, some potato salad and a little bit of cake. Everyone had fun with my Kuerig coffee maker (my favorite gadget I purchased at the beginning of the year).

The energy was awesome! The noise level through the roof! THIS is what we all needed. THIS is what has been missing. We always love to have cookouts with friends and family. We missed doing this on July 4th weekend as we decided it was better to get out of town just after the diagnosis, ( a decision I am so grateful for as we needed that more than anything ).

Somewhere in the middle of the party I noticed the water level was low. I went out and told Frank, we did nothing. Awhile late I went out again and told him it was even lower. Was the well drying up? NOPE another pipe burts under the house. Everyone started to tease about our party "curse". The last party we had a tree nearly land on someone's car, the party before that something else big happened though for the life of me I can't remember what the heck it was. NOW, no water!!! and 30+ people that need to use the bathroom!! YIKES!!!

Everyone went with the flow (pardon the punn). When they needed to use the bathroom, I would run outside and turn the water on, they would flush and the water would be turned off again. All the ladies kept going to wash the pots and platters to no avail. I just laughed!! For once they couldn't clean my kitchen, I needed to wash off my hands so I went to the water feature and got my hands wet. Hey roughing it isn't all so bad.

The party lasted about five hours. It was so wonderul to see Zack having a great time with everyone, we had a chance to catch up and re-bond with friends we haven't seen in months. Zack went to hang out with his friends and Frank crawled under the house to fix the pipe, with no luck. The part he had was the wrong size and the hardware store was closed. Oh well, no water until tomorrow. We've been there before, we can manage.

For now, I will sleep well. It was a wonderful day full of wonderful memories. Tomorrow Zack and his friend go for lab work to see if he is able to continue on Tuesday with his next round of chemo. For today, life was just like it has always been, full of laughter and fun. This was the energy boost we all needed and we count our many blessings.

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