Pictures Capture The Moment Of Miracles

On my 50th birthday post I said, “I’ll take lots of pictures so that I can share my birthday with you.” I did take lots of pictures, but not of everything. Actually, I only took pictures of the miracle.

The Birthday Events

My 50th birthday actually started the night before when Alyssa gave me an excellent manicure and pedicure. My fingernails were painted red with the ring finger of each hand shining brightly with a sparkly top coat. Alyssa told me that it was called an “accent nail” and is very much in style. Woohoo! I let Alyssa pick out the color for my toes and she chose olive green. Uh huh. It’s quite a bit different for me, but at least they are painted nicely.

I stayed up kind of late letting the polish dry, but eventually got to bed. I was awakened with every light on and Alyssa telling me to wake up. While groggily waking up, I heard her say, “I’ve made you grain free waffles, so wake up!” Obviously, I woke up very touched at Alyssa’s thoughtfulness.

After eating a very satisfying breakfast, I prepared myself for a very long facial at a local spa that Alyssa gifted me. I’ve never had a facial and saying that it was FANTASTIC is an understatement. Not only did I feel very pampered, but the facial did wonders for my face! All the dry skin was sloughed off and the rest of my skin was rehydrated. I had no idea that my face could feel so wonderful. Since I’ve suffered so much with my face for over a year because of grain, the facial felt doubly good. All the products used, the peaceful atmosphere, soft music and skill of the esthetician made this an experience I will never forget.

I left the spa very relaxed and headed to the neurologist. Yeah, I didn’t let on about that earlier. I was being tested to make sure that nothing other than PTSD affected my brain. Obviously, I’m quite thrilled to know that I don’t have a brain tumor. I never thought I did and have joked with my family by saying, “I don’t have a toomah” in an Arnold Schwarzenegger voice.

On my way back from the doctor, Alyssa met me at the grocery store. The first thing I did was look for my grocery store friend who shares the same day for his birthday. He laughed and thanked me for wishing him a Happy Birthday. Then Alyssa and I finished our shopping in record speed and headed home.

The Miracle

While waiting at home for Mom to give me a phone call to say, “Come on over for dinner,” it started snowing. It had been cold all day which wasn’t a surprise at all. I’ve never had a warm birthday or a day when it snowed, but that was about to change. Like I said, it started to snow and the flakes were HUGE. I started snapping pictures.

Mom gave the call and off we went for a very beautiful and delicious dinner – roast beef, carrots, potatoes and a beautiful salad. I also received very thoughtful gifts that I will share with you soon. When we left my mother’s place it was still snowing big flakes of the most beautiful icy stuff!

It kept snowing and snowing. I was outside constantly touching snow, smelling the crisp clean air, feeling the flakes land on my body and watching the snow melt from the warmth of my skin. Beautiful. Totally beautiful. Finally I had to go sleep.

On Friday I was planning to work, but with all the ice I chose to not risk having someone wreck into me so I took another vacation day. It had continued to snow after I went to sleep the night before which meant the view outside was totally beautiful.

Having it snow on my birthday was a miracle. The fact that it was also my 50th birthday is even more of a miracle. Why? I absolutely love snow. I talk about snow year round even though Richmond, Virginia, usually only sees one snow a year if we are lucky. When I lived in Texas, I didn’t see anymore snow than I do now in Virginia. We used to try to schedule vacations to snow areas and I’ve never tired of it.

My 50th birthday was so wonderful. It started wonderfully and ended perfectly. What could have been a very depressing day was one of the best birthdays, if not the best birthday I’ve ever experienced.