Spectacular Sixties

After church today Kory and I attended a 60th birthday party for Laurie, an “old” friend of his from his childhood church in Ballard. We went to her 40th birthday party, too, which seems like it was just a few years ago. I don’t know where those 20 years have gone. She looks the same however, and hasn’t aged a bit in all that time (see photo). Other friends at the party haven’t fared as well, but at their age, they should just feel lucky to be alive. Kory and his first wife were god parents to Laurie’s two boys. I’m pretty sure that deal ended with his divorce, but I’m glad Laurie and her husband never died so I didn’t have to find out. Her boys are all grown up now and no longer in need of back up parents, thank goodness.




It was a beautiful day for a garden party and Laurie had her house and yard in tip-top shape. It was eye candy all the way around as she’s a stickler for details. The M&Ms even had her name printed on them. That woman knows how to throw a party, and it was nice to be on the pampered side of the things, where I didn’t even have to clear my own plate from the table. I just sat out in her beautiful garden and got waited on, drank cold beverages and talked to Kory’s old friends. It was all quite lovely and the party went on all afternoon and into the evening. It was good to sit down.



Laurie gave a little speech as she was opening her gifts, and she mentioned how near and dear Kory was to her, since she was sitting right next to him in church on her 23rd birthday, when Ron, her now husband of 34 years, asked her on their first date. I thought that was funny.



We got a call from Bjørn while we were at the party, saying they had left San Francisco and were driving a few hours north before night fall. He was worried about the nine hour drive to get to Coos Bay tomorrow, and they wanted a jump start on the mileage so they had time to sight see along the way. They were pretty much done with San Francisco, as they took a double decker bus tour, walked up and down Lombard Street and got the feel of the city. They never got tickets out to Alcatraz Island and the line was too long to ride on the cable cars, so they missed out on seeing the two big things they went for, but it sounded like he was glad they went just the same. He didn’t like how cold it was down there and complained he even had to buy a jacket to stay warm. Wait til he hits the Oregon Coast. Yikes.



Kaleb finally got some time with friends as he spent the day with his buddy, Charles. We all stopped by to see JaRon in the hospital, on the way to the party, to pray with her again and see how her recovery is going from the surgery she had on Friday. She looked pretty good, so that was rather miraculous considering all she’s been through. We stopped to visit her mom, Grammy J, on the way home tonight from Seattle, and she’s holding up pretty well, too. It takes a lot of faith to keep hope alive at such a time as this. JaRon has bone cancer, but if there were ever people of faith, it would be those two. God is good, all the time.