happy birthday janet...

From 10 to 35, I don't remember a birthday without you. ;) We weren't always together, but always near in spirit.

There's no remembering the worst...although I'm 100% positive you've got it somewhere in that memory machine...but the best were spent eating chocolate chip cookie cakes with a dozen friends and playing Q-bert and Pac-man and Galaga at the video arcade on the square in Gainesville. Or maybe the best was inviting every friend possible to squeeze into the hot tub in Zanoni when we were 12 (mixed swimming...scary! Oh, but never fear, we were the only ones forced to wear t-shirts over our swimsuits). Or maybe it was the time we celebrated 16 with cake and ice cream in Mrs. Pettit's Home Economics class 3rd period.

Or maybe...the best is yet to come. :)

Have a great day...and just for you--the quote on my daily calendar for April 10th is from Alice Walker: " It's so clear that you have to cherish everyone. I think that's what I get from these older black women, that every soul is to be cherished, that every flower is to bloom."

Keep bloomin', girl! And keep making the seedlings around you bloom; the weather isn't always good, but the seed still learns and grows.