Wednesday, May 21, 2008

An Emotional Day

It has been quite a day, full of tears - but the good kind. Today we had tea at the Burj Al Arab. Although it was my third visit (twice this trip and once last year) I am still overwhelmed by the experience we have there. Each time, the experience is shared with different friends and that makes it even more special. Wendy wrote a wonderful post about our tea experience, but I wanted to expand on the emotion of it all. When the Catherine Zeta-Jones look-a-like piano player started playing (right beside us), we all became a little quiet and intro-spective. Someone got a little teary-eyed and that set us all off (maybe it's the heat). Rea, hoping to lighten the moment, asked us to raise our glasses to toast our moms. Well, that really got us going. I started to cry even more, trying to get out 'I'm crying...because....today..is...Sarah's...Mom's birthday.' This really started Sarah, then I went to pieces and had to excuse myself. Don't get me wrong. It was a wonderful toast. Very appropriate and Rea didn't even know that it was Sarah's mom's birthday (who passed away a few years ago). It was all meant to happen.

Just a few hours ago I was surprised (well, not really, not easy to get something by me) by a birthday cake from the gang. The dining room table was festooned with Canadian flags and red and white. I was surprised, however, that there was not one, but two birthday cakes. Jason had gotten me a cake too! I was very touched. The gang did manage to surprise me with some lovely gifts. These month long birthdays are the best thing ever as I think back to the many friends, gifts, champagne bottles, cakes, meals...

Another great moment to the day was that Dave and Ashley babysat Finn so the Matthelows could enjoy their Burj experience. We called two or three times and all was well. When I returned home, Dave and Ashley were playing beach ball with Finn in the living room, Dave gave Finn airplane rides, and they just did a lot of chatting. Pam and Bob, Graham and Marilyn -you have raised two wonderful kids and you should be very proud of them. I must say that Dave does have a bit of a dark side. He has taught Finn (2 1/2 years old) to roll dice and shout out 'Daddy needs a new pair of shoes', or 'Snake Eyes', or 'Box Cars!'. This cracks Jason up.

That's it for now. Our time grows short. Dave and I are busy planning our next adventure to Turkey and Greece. In just a couple hours we will say farewell to Ms. Wendy. There is no end to the emotion.

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