Birthday Time!

Today is Husband's birthday, and we are going to celebrate whether he wants to or not. Minnesota son and Fio have arranged to pick up a chocolate cake from Papi's Pies and take it to the rehab hospital where Husband is recovering from knee-replacement. Then we will party, party, party. That's what birthdays are for.

Fiorella is a birthday nut. Her parents always recognized hers with gifts and joy, but she looked around and realized there could be more to it--like a decorated cake and a big party. Thus, when it came time for her own children's birthdays, she went all out. She did the same for everyone else's birthdays too, like those of her parents-in-law, who weren't big celebrators. But Fiorella wouldn't let them off the hook. Every birthday, the family drove over to their home with a decorated cake and sang "Happy Birthday" to them. One of the nicest--and saddest--things her mother-in-law ever said was "Fiorella taught us to enjoy birthdays."

Fio will get into heaven on that.

Yesterday and Today

Yesterday was tremendous, but today is not starting off well. Fiorella discovered she had somehow destroyed a long, thoughtful essay on spanking and slapping children, then started feeling sicky when she sat by Husband's side as he awaited his turn at knee-replacemnt surgery. There was something in the air, maybe some kind of hospital sanitizer that was getting to her. And it didn't help that she'd been up almost all night because Sonia Dog did not appreciate being locked out of Husband's bedroom, where she usually sleeps. Fio tried to explain to doggie that the hospital had instructed him to sleep on clean, dogless, sheets, but Sonia did not understand. Just like Fiorella does not understand why she got struck with a multiple-paned migraine aura in Husband's waiting room, why she became so weak that she could hardly tow Husband's tote and her own tote to the car, why she felt like she was going to throw up all the way home, why she's been sitting on the couch like a wilting flower for the past three hours.

She's beginning to feel better now, though. This too shall pass.