I think when you are young, birthdays are very important. As you get older, the milestone birthdays (21, 40, 65 etc) become more important. When you survive past your mid 70s I think there is a balance.
There are those who absolutely adore birthdays, seeing them as a celebration and a chance to gather family & friends rather than being worried about the small details. I am mentioning this because today George hit the magical age of 78. The last time we had a major party for him involving more than family was when he turned 70 and a lot has changed in the last eight years.
This year, rather than just have everyone over, there was a decision made to go out . What was picked was the Black Forest Kitchen in Oakland. It has doners & doner kabobs, not traditional foods. It has an outdoor beer garden which is good if you are dealing with small children. There were a couple of downsides – noise, large screen with the soccer game on (which meant a lot of noise) and extremely limited seating.
But we got there, we ate, the little boys kicked around some balls, the dog who came with Dani & Alex got properly fussed over for her injured foot, and I think everyone had a good enough time.
Me? Glad to be back home. Stitching goals made for the day, cat is back on my lap, and I think it is time to turn off the TV on the birthday boy.
