Happy Birthday

Two people special to me have their birthday today--my mom and my daughter in law, Cheri. My mom taught me many amazing things over the years but first and foremost she taught me how to be a wife and for that I am most thankful.

Cheri has taught me to smile when it rains.

Cheri is married to my youngest, Brian. Brian studied to be a welder and got a job not too long before they were to get married--just before the economic crunch hit. They got married in October 2008 at the peak of the big drop. Unfortunately you know how it goes--the last one hired is the first to go. Well Brian received that devastating news the week they were to get married so they had to move out of their cute apartment before they even moved in--so sad.

On our property we have a shed we call the guest house--a 10x15 room that has electricity and no plumbing. Our 20 something aged boys liked to stay out there to prove that they were on their own. It has a refrigerator and microwave, TV, dresser, bed and minimal hanging space. While Brian and Cheri were on their honeymoon my mom and I worked to turn the guest house into a honeymoon cottage. We cleaned it out of boy junk and arranged it for newly weds as best we could for a room without plumbing.

Cheri has been living in the cottage now for a year and a half. Every night in the middle of the night--rain, snow, sleet and heat--she trudges in to use the plumbing the big house offers. She has never complained, never grouched, never been upset. She just smiles.

Last week Brian and Cheri had to cancel their trip to Tennessee to visit her family because of the snow. I heard Brian say to her that he was sorry he wasn't able to take her home like they had planned. Cheri kissed him and said "I am home".

James M. Barrie had this to say:

The secret of happiness is not in doing what one likes,
but in liking what one has to do.

Happy Birthday Mom
Happy Birthday Cheri

I love you