Once upon a time there was a girl with a sweet husband. Her husband said, "what do you want for your birthday?" He was thinking of some glamorous or girly gift he could buy his beautiful wife.
"The only present I want is to hike with you up Mount Sangorgonio! How easy I am to please! I don't need money or gifts that are costly, just a day with my sweet man." She smiled.
Gracefully her man responded with a big, grinning, "SURE!" But what he really meant was, "WHAT?! I have absolutely no desire to spend a day in excruciating torment hiking up the highest peak in Southern CA (11,000 + feet) with a very sweaty and over-exuberant wife who is putting me to shame as I breathlessly chase after her."
Courageously, and despite the fact that he knew his crooked toes would give him weeping blisters, he sacrificed his ego and added valiently, "Anything for you my dear"!
The date was set. The babysitter was arranged-- dear Shonna, who agreed to take the kids for
two nights if necessary! And, although it was November and the area had its first storms, the top of the mountain remained snow-free. The day dawned beautiful and sunny.
Sadly, the dear wife awoke with a terrible sore throat, earache, wheezing and coughing and headache. How could she possibly spend fourteen hours hiking eight miles straight up and eight miles straight down? Impossible in this condition. Her heart was crushed and she could niether eat nor drink.
The handsome husband,
secretly delighted, tried vainly to placate his wife. He produced free movie tickets, found at the bottom of the drawer, but , alas, nothing interesting was showing at the theatre. Next, he suggested a fun day at her mother's cozy forest cottage, complete with working TV (theirs was broken) and scrapbooking. This whim could not be fulfilled either, as the mother was reviled by the thought of getting her daughter's germs and banned them into the bleak, grey city in which they unfortunately resided.
As a last resort, the dashing husband taxied his wife to Target to get ideas for their childrens' Christmas gifts. They trudged through the store, only to come to the conclusion that their children needed nothing but bread and porridge and straw mats for sleeping on. Wearily, they returned home to waste their empty day away by picking each other's toe lint.
THE END
Okay, so every now and then you have to have a crummy birthday. Might as well make a fun story out of it. I am
still sick and the only presents I got were:
1. a beautifully written card from my mother-in-law and 25$ which will be hoarded until I think of the perfect thing to spend it on (thank you)!
2. a lovely plant from my mom called a snail-vine.
3. creatively scribbled pictures and get-well cards from my kids.
4. a card and candy from Shonna . . . but also a night and day of babysitting my four kids so I could rest and feel better. Thank You!
5. a couple other cards from friends with touching messages of inspiration and love.
6. My Releif Society President from church brought us dinner last night because I have been so sick. It wasn't really a birthday present, but I will count it as one!
Well, now that I've listed all those things, I feel much better. It isn't so bad after all. And don't worry, I'll get Wes on that Hike sooner or later!
