40 Years Old

My wonderful wife put together what has been by far my best birthday to date. She hosted a good ol' southern pig pickin' in our yard and invited all our neighbors and friends to spend the day with Sam and me. Sam's birthday is on April 18th and mine is on the 22nd so it was a joint celebration.

The pig cooker showed up at 7:30 a.m. and the 109 lb. pig was laid on the cooker at 8:40 a.m. There was a 180 degree turn of the hog around noon and we began eating at 5:30 p.m. There was plenty of beveraging throughout the day and we played some yard games to pass the time. One of the highlights was when the local fire station showed up in their fire truck. My neighbor Pat asked the station to come by for the kids and it was a hit. The firemen stayed for several hours and joined us for the fantastic food. Sam and I took turns opening gifts and we both made away like bandits. Sam got a power John Deere Tractor he can drive around and I received a garage door opener from my cool neighbors & a garbage disposal from my out-of-town friends (may have been more for Kristi). I also received a mold to make atlas stones from my buddy Reese back home.

My wife put together a finale that made me tear up. She had Vince put together a montage of old photos of me as a kid with my older brothers and family throughout high school and college. The slide show was played to some great music and projected on a screen for us all to watch. You don't know how lucky you are until you see what your family and friends think of you and I can assure you I am a blessed man.

I want to thank everyone who came as it was a day I'll never forget. I want to give a special thanks to Mark and Vince for helping Kristi with all the coordinating and for being great friends. I want to give a super thank you to Matt Jemtrud, Phil Gates and Nick Bourdon. All are wonderful friends but they traveled from Orlando, Seattle and Charlotte to spend the day with me.

Here is a link to the photos I took.

Here is a link to the photos my neighbor took.