Belated (but very heartfelt) "Thank You!"

To all of my terrific friends and family who made my birthday perfect, thank you very much. Being so far away, it is even more wonderful than usual to hear from you - on my birthday or any other day.

First thanks go to Sophie, of course! See my blog entry on my birthday for all the delicious reasons why she gets the biggest and first, "Thank you!!"

Second and special thanks go to Sharlene and my wonderful, thoughtful, adorable, terrific, perfect "Knitting Friends".

Sharlene and I have become really good friends, (yay for me!!), and she invited me to her knitting night many years ago where she knits once a week with a group of great women who have all been friends since child birth classes. I was intimidated at first to enter into such an intimate group of women, but that turned out to be very silly of me. They are the best - seriously!

When news of Josey's accident hit America, I received several emails from my Knitting Friends. Thank you all so much for the caring thoughts! It really helped me feel better. That is just one example of how wonderful they are.

For my birthday, I got a package from America. Wow, wow, wow!!! We have received a total of about 4 packages from America in the mail since we arrived in France 15 months ago and only a few letters. So, when we have a notice that a package awaits us at the post, it's very, very exciting!

We received the notice ON my birthday, but I had to wait over the weekend to pick up the package. Excruciating!! I am such an impatient person!

Mike and I picked up the package on the way to get the kids for lunch, and I was so excited that I ripped it open in front of the school.

Guess what?! It was from Sharlene and my Knitting Friends!! They had sent me a birthday present!! And there were also gifts for Max and Josey!! Can you believe how sweet that is? I almost cried!! There were also yummy salt water taffy candies from Marini's in Santa Cruz and yummy gummy candies from Trader Joe's. I shared the bonbons with all of my French friends immediately (they were all looking into my box with me with excitement) - and to all the kids who were by now exiting the school.

Max and Josey unwrapped their goodies immediately. Max got some cool MadLibs, and Josey got pink nail polish, lip gloss, eye shadow. Perfect!! I waited 'til we got home to unwrap my present. The new Debbie Bliss knitting magazine. Yay!! I was thrilled. Knitting magazines are so wonderful!! I love, love, love them.

Thank you Sharlene, Julia, Laurie, Cheryl, Nancy, Heather, Lily, Rebecca, Willow . . . You ladies are really the best. I am very grateful that Sharlene invited me to your group and that you have welcomed me so warmly.

I honestly brag to Mike all the time about how "My Knitting Friends" are the best kind of people in the world. Yay for me!!

Third thanks go to my parents, from whom I received another great surprise. I had asked them not to buy me a gift, but to instead put my gift money into their "We want to go to France after Christmas" travel fund. However, when we arrived in Barcelona to see Jeff and Lindsley, Linds had a package for me. Cool!!

Mom had sent me some great water shoes. She said that when she saw them, she thought of me running down the banks of L'orb river in Roquebrun, chasing Max who was floating down the river screaming in his intertube. Sigh. Sometimes Mom's have to rescue panicking children.

She also sent me more great knitting magazines. Yay again!!

Fourth thanks go to Sabrina. She surprised me with a jar of homemade blackberry jelly. She had given us a jar of the jam the week before, and it was so delicious that we ate it all in a matter of days! So, when she gave me the jelly, she told Mike that he could only eat a teaspoon full. The rest was for me. LOL

And of course my wonderful mother-in-law got me yummy, yummy yarn! Did you notice that I describe yarn with the same words I describe food? Knit much?! Thank you, Pat!! You are terrific.

Thanks again to all of you who sent me emails, too.

I'm sure I've said this before, but it bears repeating: Every message Mike and I get in our inbox is like a little present! I check my personal email first thing every morning, hoping for email from friends & family. On those days where the inbox is full of nothing but spam, Mike says, "The love is gone."

Did everyone get that hint? Was I subtle enough?

Good example - this morning, Mike received an email from his friend Caroline! Thanks, Caroline. From your email, I can tell you read my blog, too. How's that little man of yours?

Okay, I got a little carried away today. Sorry there weren't any pictures to spice things up, but I opened those presents way too quickly to bother with the camera.

Love to all!!