And She's 50!!!

Well, Sunday morning finally got around to gettin' here, and the first thing I did was rip into the cards and packages that my husband had told me I couldn't open until then. I really am a 5 year old at heart, ya know. I got some fawncy blingage; a fawncy 1st BRITISH edition of "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" bought on THE Charing Cross Road IN London; a beautifully wrapped lot of free promotional pens (be still my heart): a bundle of hilarious cards from the whippersnapper; and the Official RML Diva Tiara (passed down from Kathi to Marla to Betty to me), of which I shall post a picture when my nose stops running. All of this was rounded out by all sorts of exploding cakes and fireworks on the online thread from everybody else -- all of which just made the morning more fun that I've had since The Incident in the St. Louis airport....

Poor Henry flailed around here trying to get my attention for HIS gift, and I finally got up away from the computer -- and UNBELIEVABLE -- got a brand spankin' new PANK laptop!!! With a PANK mouse!!!

I couldn't fiddle around with it as long as I wanted to because I had to get ready for church. I put on the dress I'd bought to wear and approached the Levine Hat Shop Hat Box with fear and trepidation. Could I do this? Could I really work up the nerve to put it on??

YOU'RE DAMNED TOOTIN' I DID!!!

I gotta tell ya -- something happens to a woman when she puts on a hat -- and it's a feeling I will never forget. Any hesitation I had was squashed knowing that some of my buds were going to be watching the church service streamed live over the internet, and besides that, Anne B. had said I would be a chicken if I didn't. I've never met a gauntlet that I wouldn't pick up.

We walked into church, and folks were doing double-takes, and then the weirdest thing started happening. Folks who'd already been in their pews started coming up to me wishing me a Happy Birthday. Very weird.

We all sat down and settled in -- I was looking at an insert in the order of worship, and I noticed that Laura was squirming, and she finally leaned over and said, "You might want to take a look at the bottom of the back page." So I did, and I didn't get it -- there was only an announcement about the upcoming Mother/Daughter banquet (the theme of which is "hats off!" which was kinda amusing given my wardrobe...), but she said, "Not THAT back page -- the INSIDE back page!" Laura isn't usually bossy, but she was pretty effective.

Well, you coulda knocked me over with the feather on top of my fine red hat -- the chancel flowers had been placed there "to the glory of God in honor of Eleanor Lucas' 50th birthday by her friends at RML."

I thought my heart would burst. Honestly, I did. It takes a whole lot to render me speechless, but they truly got me with that. Truly.

Following the service we went to Sinclair's and had a lovely lunch (but forgot to order dessert!), and the rest of the afternoon was spent putzin' around town. We thought it was particularly thoughtful of the city to have the historic Court Street Fountain running with PANK WATER!!

We completed our afternoon with the obligatory side trip to Hank Williams' grave, and a quick trip to the zoo (I just was dyin' to see the otters!), where we met this unfortunately named critter:

Yes, this is really its name.

Where do you go from there, really?

Thus concludes the story of the most wildly extravagant, most amazing weekend of my life. For everyone who was part of it -- whether you were here, or there, or totally involved or just watched from the sidelines with a grin or two, THANK YOU.