Happy Birthday to me.....70!

That's a lot of years, and coming up to 70 was filled with ... well, not the best feelings in the world.  Trepidation.  Anxiety.  Not really depression, but sort of.  All in minimal amounts, but there.  Weirdness.  70?  Hard to grasp.

So, let's have a party!  That'll blow the blues away.  Here in Germany, you throw your own party, no waiting around for someone else to celebrate you.  Celebrate yourself.  So I did. We did.

Planning was a logistical problem - how many to invite? How to arrange?  I didn't want the formality of a dinner in a rented hall, but our little charming LITTLE house can only handle so many folks at a time.  Answer?  An open house.

Friends and family from far away had sent cards and what a wonderful treat that was (is).  Days before my "special" day, little reminders arrived in the mailbox to let me know folks were thinking of me!

Werner thought it would be fun to put up pictures of me from lots of years ago.  School pictures are always a hoot and it was fun, I have to say, to look at these old pics.

 Before the party, on the day itself, Werner had a special card and some roses on the breakfast table.

 And then came a wondrous bouquet from my children.  My kids.  My loves.  Thank you so much!!

On Saturday, we arranged hors d'oeuvres from the local caterer, added a cheese plate and some mini-quiches, a hot soup (pumpkin, of course) and  - voilá! - an Open House.  It worked.

Our little, cozy, little, little house was full to overflowing, but it was such a congenial group!  We toasted with bubbly, we ate up the goodies (though not enough!) and we talked and talked.  That was the whole point.  We got lots of good feedback - maybe the new thing here will be an open house!

A little poem from Ulli and Ilsemarie put the cherry on top of the ice cream.

I don't have as many pictures as I would have liked.  Since I am the major picture-taker and I had to take care of other stuff, pictures didn't get done.  BUT, it was so much fun.

Next day, with Rima, René and Amina, we took a bit of a walk to unwind and relax.  Great move. 

Thank you all for making this such a wonderful day/wonderful days.