Happy 55th Birthday!

Terry celebrated her 55th birthday with a house full of friends and a host of birthday greetings from across the continent. Hans, a Dutch neighbor, baked a chocolate cake; Genevieve shared one of Terry's favorite songs with some musical friends who learned it in one night and performed it for Terry and the crowd.

When I lived with my grandmother, we'd always sit together after a gathering at the house and we'd count up the people who came - by name and number. If I had been at the party, I'd sit now and follow that tradition: naming the guests, counting up how many and where they had come from, settling the memory with a pattern of faces and names. I wasn't there so I won't be naming the names, playing the memory like a familiar movie in my mind. I can tell you that a lot of people sent birthday greetings through facebook and those greetings were read to Terry by Sastun and Alina. THsnks to all who took a moment, an hour, or a day to help make memories for all of us who so very much want to have a great store of memories for the future.