Birthday Blessings

I turned 46 this past Wednesday. Wow! I feel so big now. I still don't feel like a legitimate adult though. It was such an awesome day. This was the gorgeous sunrise I was treated to on my way into work that morning. So lovely! And yes, it was another, 'I-HAVE-to-pull-over-to-the-side-of-the-road-to-take-a-picture' kind of sunrise. This just made me so happy.

I didn't get home from work until 1:45. Unbeknownst to me, Chuck took the rest of the day off and had some perfectly "cori-like" activities planned. He immediately whisked me off to lunch at the Star of India in Fort Collins. Yum! Once you have Indian friends and they introduce you to their culture and food, you are hooked, my friend...there's no going back.

From there, we drove up into the foothills to go hiking near Horsetooth Mountain. Yes. We walked along this ridge of rocks and it was as fun as you would think.

It was pretty cold too. Not that I minded in the least. It was a perfect day for hiking. And Chuck even remembered to bring my hiking shoes and socks. Isn't he the sweetest?!

Here's a good view of Horsetooth from where we were.

It was such a beautifully sunny day! Just perfect. The color blue of the sky in Colorado never ceases to impress me. I just love it. I'm so thankful that we live so close to these majestic mountains that we can come here to fill up our souls any time we want. That was the real gift Chuck gave me.

Of course, time together is always one of my favorite gifts.

Shockingly, Bennett's basketball practice was cancelled and neither he nor Chloe had to stay late after school. They both came home normal time so we were able to go straight to The Summit for half-price laser tag night. It was awesome! We played 3 games. I lost every single one of them, but had a blast. I'm a terrible shooter. I can't sneak up on people. I have zero stealth. I laugh every time I get shot. But we were together, playing and having fun. Such a perfect ending to a perfect day. I'm so happy to be here and share life with this awesome group of people.

Words To Live By

I think the best birthday present Gavin got this year was a simple little pdf that Chuck created for him. What a beautiful reminder of all that is true and good and right. We have to intentionally practice these character traits to build up those muscles. Just one more reason he is the best Dad and Husband EVER!

Wrong Number

Let me explain....

One of my former students loves to knit. She also loves to send me items such as shawls and scarves that she's knitted. I recently got another of her sweet gifts in the mail. I thought I'd take a picture and show her how nice it looked on me.

So I texted her, as the picture attests to and received an interesting reply.

For an English as a Second Language student, her English sure looks pretty good to me. 

I didn't even read it correctly at first. I honestly thought her thumbs shifted on her keyboard and she accidentally typed a swear word unknowingly. That happens alot with my students. They don't spell very well and it's not uncommon to see swear words written out because they phonetically sound like something else they were meaning to say. But then I really read it. And realized, this wasn't my student (a 60 something Cambodian matriarch) at all. This was a complete stranger and they knew exactly what they were typing. (Side note: asf had to be explained to me...I was completely clueless).

The whole problem began because I had two numbers listed in my phone for this student...so I texted both of them. Apparently, one of them is no longer her number.

Ooops...my bad.

Now some young kid (could be girl, could be boy, could be suburban, could be hood, could be any ethnicity) thinks I walk around wearing shawls. I really felt the need to explain myself to this random person that I accidentally texted. But I don't speak that language. I don't know the "hip" way to respond to Mr. Wrong Number (for lack of a better name). I just want to say, "I thought you were an immigrant. Sorry." But that still doesn't explain why I'm wearing a shawl.

Now a picture of a white, middle-aged woman wearing a knitted shawl is floating around on the internet and with my luck it will probably go viral. And all I meant to do was thank my student for knitting me something.

We're 15 days into this new year and I'm off to a good start.