Friday's FIVE!

February 14Th is Valentines Day.... However, it is MORE than Valentines Day to me - Valentines Day has always been a special day to me... On February 14, 1958... I came into this world weighing in at 8 lbs 1 oz and 19 inches long. I've always enjoyed my birthday on Valentine's Day ~ so this weeks Friday's Five! is dedicated to five of my most memorable birthdays.

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2/14/1967 ~ I was 9 years old. As a child, our birthday family tradition was Mom's favorite dinner of your choice (My Mom has always been an amazing cook)... Grandma and Grandpa Alexander would usually come over.... of course there were gifts and cake and ice cream. My favorite birthday dinner request was always Pork Roast, Mashed Potatoes, Peas, Applesauce Jello and Cherry Chip Cake for dessert. Grandma Alexander would usually make the applesauce jello. In 1967 ~ my dream was a piano. My friend, Teena had a piano...and I always admired the music she was able to make with that piano. I dreamed of playing the piano. After dinner that evening - I was escorted to the living room...and much to my surprise...my parents had given me a piano for birthday. I was ecstatic! I didn't become a concert pianist, but I did learn enough to be able to play Christmas songs... Unfortunately, I lost that piano in a fire in 2003...but it brought many happy memories to my life.

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2/14/1974 ~ I was 16 years old. I had a small party at my house on 52ND street with a few friends. The significance of my 16Th birthday though is a gift that I received... The year before I was born, my Grandpa Alexander had given my Grandmother a heart shaped amethyst ring with six small diamonds for Valentines Day. My grandma had early onset osteoarthritis and her hands were very knobby and deformed from the disease. However, I can remember holding her hand and admiring that ring on her knobby fingers. I was about 4 years old, and she promised that the ring would be mine on my 16Th birthday. She didn't realize how fast those 12 years would pass...but she kept good on her promise and she gave me the ring. To this day, it is one of my most prized possessions.

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2/14/1998 ~ I was 40 years old... How did I ever get to be 40 years old??? Several of our Sunday School friends were a little older than we were... and I would get great joy giving those friends a hard time about still being in my 30's... They really let me have it when I turned 40.

My dear friends had fabricated a 20' tombstone for our yard that said "Here dies the youth of Mindy"... There was a horror commercial on the radio about the death of my youth... and my family had planned a surprise party for me that included the grim reaper delivering my birthday cake. It was a fun party that included music by the Posse... and many friends and family. I was completely surprised and happy that my friends could revel in the death of my youth.

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2/14/2002 ~ I have always shared my birthday with Valentines Day... and in 2002 it became my day. Bruce and I married off the coast of Key West on Valentines Day. It was an incredibly romantic day. We were married on a catamaran, The Dream chaser ... at sunset.

The day was absolutely perfect... and the absolute perfect day to marry my soul mate.

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2/14/2008 ~ My 50Th birthday was such a wonderful, special day. My girls and my mother planned a fabulous fiftieth birthday party for me. It was such a special day, because the party included old friends, new friends and my family. Everything detail was perfectly planned. It was a homecoming of sorts...as there were many friends I had not seen or spent time with for many years. While the 40Th gave my friends the opportunity to celebrate the death of my youth... my 50Th gave me the chance to celebrate the unconditional gift of family and friendships and truly celebrate the happiness in my life!