Where Were You?

Most people remember the day their first child was born. Women, especially, remember it pretty vividly. Especially the first one.

So… guess who was born on December 8? Shannon!

Yep, today is Shannon’s birthday. Today she’s officially 32.

Do you have any idea where I was when Shannon was born? Come on, any guesses?

I did a pretty awesome blog post last year on Shannon’s birthday (if I do say so myself). So awesome, in fact, that I won’t even bother trying to top it this year. If you didn’t already follow the link to last year’s post, FOLLOW IT NOW.

I guess that’s sort of lazy of me. Sorry. But it’s late as I am writing this (Tuesday night). And I need to get up early to go to the store for dinner fixings, a cake, and a new hand mixer.

I made a yellow cake from scratch tonight. But I forgot to flour the pan. I greased it, but it wasn’t until after I’d poured the batter into the cake pan that I realized my error.

Now, were it not for the fact that our 17-plus-year-old hand mixer (it was a wedding gift) was SMOKING as I finished mixing the batter, I would’ve started over. But hand mixers aren’t supposed to smoke. And it’s not supposed to smell like an electrical fire when you’re mixing cake batter either. So I just went ahead and stuck the thing in the oven.

It smelled really, really good as it finished baking. But there’s no hope of the thing coming out of the pan in one piece. I could just put icing on top of the cake, but that is SUCH a waste of valuable frosting space. The sides need frosting, too.

Anyway…

Today is Shannon’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Shannon.

Here’s another picture from last year that’s awesome.

Shannon’s friend, Laura, took this picture of her little girl, Ruby, to e-mail or message to Shannon as a birthday gift. As exciting as the trip was, it must have sucked being away on her birthday.

And wait, here’s one more pic…

This MIGHT be the one I didn’t post last year that is Shannon’s favorite.

As for where I was when Shannon was born, I have no clue. I didn’t birth the girl. I was only 11 when she was born. I was closer to 12 than 11, but still. I was in elementary school!

But that’s okay. Yes, it would’ve been nice to experience those early years with Shannon (and Amy, too). I didn’t even meet them until much later. You know what, though? That doesn’t matter a bit. We’ve all managed to make up for those missing years quite nicely.

Happy birthday, Shannon! I am so glad you are home. And not just because you feed us well either. Because it’s just plain nice having you around.