When someone has thoughtful, kind and generous friends like I have, and if three of those friends…I am so fortunate in having many, but for this story, I’m concentrating on three…. are creative, overly generous and know how much I love very special people, the result is a birthday celebration that can never be forgotten or appreciated enough. Suffice it to say that Kathleen Sweeney and that terrific son of hers Jay Strebb, together with another dear friend, Bobbie Westlake, certainly went overboard to celebrate my 86th the day before Thanksgiving.
Bobbie knows how much I appreciate everything about her, her very thoughtful gift as well as her decorated delicious ice cream cakes, But for this story, I want to concentrate on the unique and over the top generosity of Kathleen and Jay.
I mean, think of this: They opened that luxurious Shore Casino before noon the day before Thanksgiving, called in a chef and a waitress, called a couple of our very close and highly revered friends and let them know it was my birthday, and prepared, served, and enjoyed with me the most splendiferous (is that even a word?) lunch anyone could have shown in her honor. For a very close and intimate group of special people.
Best of all, Ozzie and Ophelia, the staff who came in to prepare and serve this wondrous meal, even got to accept our invitation and sit and enjoy it with all of us.
Of course the buffet luncheon had several kinds of meat and huge portions of my favorite entrée, salmon. It also had mashed potatoes and outstanding young asparagus, but nothing can beat Bobby Garvey’s and Ozzie’s very special and unmatched rice pudding. Indeed, because it was the Shore Casino, there were appetizers in advance, including small pieces of filet Mignon wrapped around mashed potatoes…what a finger licking treat that is!…and a roasted eggplant with brie cheese…life doesn’t get any better. In addition to that rice pudding, which to me can be as easy a breakfast meal as it is a dessert……there was Bobbie’s ice cream cake and enough candles I could blow out rather than the full 86 that might have called in the fire department if all were lit!
And to top it all off, Jay put my name and Birthday up in lights on that rolling neon sign on the Casino exterior wall, so others passing who saw it also stopped in to express happy greetings. How lucky can one woman get? And how many wonderful friends can one person have?
But it was the stories and laughter this very special group of friends shared, some taking time from work simply to stop in for a few minutes, cherished hugs and wishing me well for the next 86 years. There was Irish humor mixed with Italian recipes, there were jokes for the quick-minded and those t hat brought up laughter from the pits of stomach. And there were memories from last week, last month, last year, last decade and then some that made the entire afternoon so very special.
Am I fortunate? Nobody has as much as I. Am I grateful? There are not enough words to express it. Are the Strebbs too generous and too thoughtful to people who love and admire them and are fortunate enough to call them friends?
They show it every day! I’m blessed, I’m grateful, I’m humbled by such generosity and kindness
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