Those of you who know us, are aware that we both turned the magical 60 this year. Pat's turn came just after Christmas and for her birthday gift, she was treated to a surprise trip to sunny Florida. The day the kids left after Christmas break, we had lunch out and along with her other gifts, she got a card that read "Pack your bags, we leave in two days for 10 days in Florida." I had it arranged with her boss and most of our friends knew about it because I had also planned a card shower for her at her birthday dinner. This was all preceeded by a surprise party at work where I presented her with a large cake depicting the road of life as seen above.
It was December 28th and we were approaching Montgomery Alabama. I got a call on my cell phone from our Florida hosts asking about our progress and I told them we should reach the night's destination very shortly. They wished Pat a happy birthday just about the time the GPS showed the stopping point of Longhorn Steakhouse. She saw the notation and her eyes lit up because she had expected McDonald's for dinner. We walked in and the hostess asked about seating and Pat responded with the usual, "two, non-smoking." But I said "No, we are here for a birthday party. This is her 60th birthday!" I looked around and there waiting for us were the Dershimers from Florida. Their recent call was to let me know that they were there as planned. Pat was overwhelmed.
The next surprise was the card shower. I took out the cheese cake box I had brought into the restaurant and opened it. Inside there were 60 birthday cards from friends all over the country that I had either e-mailed or snail mailed or hand delivered the card request. This was the culmination of the birthday surprise but only the beginning of the adventure that included a wonderful visit with Elizabeth Dershimer's brother in Montgomery area where we spent the night before heading down to Florida. When we reached Orlando, where we stayed with Wil and Elizabeth, it was dark. We had chosen to take the long way down avoiding Interstate 75 during Christmas vacation season. Our stay was highlighted by grilled Salmon steaks at Wil's son's house and visits to many of Florida's non-theme-park attractions and wonderful down time visiting with our hosts. We didn't let a minor car repair slow us down much and we were out every day. Future posts will briefly summarize our outings with short narrative and pictures. Additional pictures will soon be available on my recently improved website at:
www.DSDigitals.com.
Those of you who know us, are aware that we both turned the magical 60 this year. Pat's turn came just after Christmas and for her birthday gift, she was treated to a surprise trip to sunny Florida. The day the kids left after Christmas break, we had lunch out and along with her other gifts, she got a card that read "Pack your bags, we leave in two days for 10 days in Florida." I had it arranged with her boss and most of our friends knew about it because I had also planned a card shower for her at her birthday dinner. This was all preceeded by a surprise party at work where I presented her with a large cake depicting the road of life as seen above.
It was December 28th and we were approaching Montgomery Alabama. I got a call on my cell phone from our Florida hosts asking about our progress and I told them we should reach the night's destination very shortly. They wished Pat a happy birthday just about the time the GPS showed the stopping point of Longhorn Steakhouse. She saw the notation and her eyes lit up because she had expected McDonald's for dinner. We walked in and the hostess asked about seating and Pat responded with the usual, "two, non-smoking." But I said "No, we are here for a birthday party. This is her 60th birthday!" I looked around and there waiting for us were the Dershimers from Florida. Their recent call was to let me know that they were there as planned. Pat was overwhelmed.
The next surprise was the card shower. I took out the cheese cake box I had brought into the restaurant and opened it. Inside there were 60 birthday cards from friends all over the country that I had either e-mailed or snail mailed or hand delivered the card request. This was the culmination of the birthday surprise but only the beginning of the adventure that included a wonderful visit with Elizabeth Dershimer's brother in Montgomery area where we spent the night before heading down to Florida. When we reached Orlando, where we stayed with Wil and Elizabeth, it was dark. We had chosen to take the long way down avoiding Interstate 75 during Christmas vacation season. Our stay was highlighted by grilled Salmon steaks at Wil's son's house and visits to many of Florida's non-theme-park attractions and wonderful down time visiting with our hosts. We didn't let a minor car repair slow us down much and we were out every day. Future posts will briefly summarize our outings with short narrative and pictures. Additional pictures will soon be available on my recently improved website at: www.DSDigitals.com.
