Over the hill but picking up speed....

I seriously can't believe I am forty.

It is kinda disturbing.  

I do admit that turning 40 was a lot easier for me to deal with than turning 30.  Thirty was really really rough.  The past 5 years my body has pretty much betrayed me so I am already feeling kinda old and run down and well...  FORTY.

I made Darren PROMISE he wouldn't do anything crazy for my birthday.  I have had the same birthday tradition since 2005 wherein I have family and friends over for dinner.  I look forward to it all year.  Plus, I DO NOT like surprises. Like AT ALL.  It's part of my control freak personality.

I got the idea of throwing my own birthday party from my mother-in-law Eldeane. She has a BBQ every year that you had better show up to.  It is always fun.  I decided the best way to spend my birthday how I want is to plan my own party (insert repeat sentence from above about being a control-freak here).

Some years are bigger (last year we served almost 70) and some years are smaller (like this year when we had about 20 people).  But it is always after the Children's parade and we always serve Cafe Rio salads and frozen lemon creme dessert.

Brian and Sharmi invited me out to lunch for my birthday.
Imagine my surprise when I went outside to leave and saw this in front of my house.

 
 I gave Darren a huge sucker punch on his arm. He swears he was not involved as I had made him promise.  Brian later told me that while Darren had promised to not do anything for my birthday, he personally had made no such promise.

If you look closely at the sign on the car, it says HONK FOR SONJA SHEFFER. 

We live on a fairly busy street and so all day we heard honking. Every time I heard a honk, I have to admit I grinned.

When I went to the Children's parade that night I had a LOT of people wish me Happy Birthday and tell me that they had "honked" for me.  It made my birthday a LOT of fun.

Sharmi traditionally makes a tombstone cake for any of our friends turning 40.  She knows I would pretty much do anything to get to eat one of her famous sugar cookies so instead of a cake, she made me a GIANT cookie.  The "Poor Sonja... Poor Poor Sonja" phrase is an inside joke from a game called "WHAT-IF" that we play frequently.


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My birthday was great.  I am getting old, but that is okay.  I am also getting more and more sentimental like my dad, which is okay, too.  I was in the grocery store the morning of my birthday picking up some last minute items. I was thinking about my upcoming dinner and the people that would be there and what I had to look forward too and right there in the produce section I just felt so perfectly, overwhelmingly HAPPY. I shed a few tears... and said a little prayer of thanks as I picked out grapes.  I truly am blessed.