February brings an interesting pairing to the birthday list; a brand new member of our family, Anastasia Thora Withrow, born on the 13th and the oldest of the clan.. me.
    Others in February are Alice (Bunny) Pfister and one of her grandsons, Elija James Pfister.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALL OF US!

   My four kids + Nancy and Dan gave me a birthday present that has me smiling, ear to ear. My bedroom, which has been a kind of non-descript off-white, is now a glowing, deep rose color with snowy white trim. Not quite finished, but will be within the next couple of weeks when "somebody... whoever is free" can come and finish the trim, put the second coat of white on the tall bookcase, and re-hang the doors. At one time I counted five bodies in there all working together. You can't get much more together than they were. How they didn't paint each other, I don't know.. but to hear them chattering away as they made my room beautiful... That is something to treasure...
    Paul was taking down light fixtures and curtain rods and he and John removed doors and carried them downstairs to be cleaned (they are birch and not painted). Dan was painting the inside of the closet, while Hildy and Nan used rollers on the ceiling and walls... They came back the next day and put on a second coat and started the white woodwork!!
    Naturally everything is out in the dining room, including the contents of the large clothes closet, and I am on strict notice (from Hildy) that nothing that doesn't fit or that I don't need, goes back... Since I have some things that I haven't seen fit to part with for 25 years.... we may have a mess for quite some time. However, she and Nan have volunteered to help me dispose of some of the things I have hung onto for no good reason.

   Along with all that, they were planning this NEVER TO BE FORGOTTEN...AMAZING...90th Birthday party for me. Nancy, webmaster for Dixie-Press, has put my "Thank you" letter up as a new link. Just look to your left and click on "90th Birthday Celebration" to see it.

   The new baby has arrived for Heather and Thomas. It's a girl and they have named her Anastasia after her grandpa Dan's Mom. Anastasia Thora Withrow. That's nice. She came by c-section the morning of February 13.. all 10 pounds 12 ½ ounces! Hildy and Dan got held up by the weather, but arrived just in time to take over Skyler's care.... and Heather e-mailed me from the hospital as they were checking in, saying she felt fine, but ready.... so I was ready for the news when it came. :-)

    I finally made the connection with Anastasia's middle name, Thora. That would be the feminine for Thor, who was the Norse God who threw thunderbolts! Translate thunderbolts to hammer and discus; add in the fact that Mommy is a champion in each of those sports and Daddy has coached them for years..... and it becomes obvious...

   Our neighbor, Anne, who has been studying nutrition at Bastyr University for the past couple of years, has received a grant to study in the Piedmont area of Italy for two weeks in March! She will be going with three other students to a prestigious cooking school. Way to go, Anne. (This is the area where the current Olympic Games are being shown on TV, and it is a beautiful part of the Alps).

   History Link certainly surprised me by putting pictures and a story about me on their main web page www.HistoryLink.org in which they call me their most "prolific memoirist" and follow that up with a bio, complete with clickable blue phrases that lead right to one of my stories! They also sent two of their recently published books to History House to be delivered during my birthday party! I'm flattered.

Thought for my birthday.

   The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been.

   -- Madeleine L'Engle

Borrowed from HistoryLink's website by
Dixie/Dorothea, Senior Editor

Home Page: Dixie-Press.com

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