My Birthday

Me and my youngest daughter, Cari. She didn't want to pose.

Me and my love.

Our waitress and chef. Notice the peace signs.

Eating salad with chopsticks! Ha, can you do that?

My first taste of sake. I didn't expect the glass to be so big.

Thirty something years ago I was born today. Out of all of my birthdays, this is one of the best. I have three great ones in my repertoire now. One was when I was a little girl and my mom threw a party for me in my aunt's backyard and I had a pinata and a Wonder Woman cake (the frosting made me sick though) and when I turned 26 and I was in Atlantic City. My cousin, Angela was around for two of those birthdays.

Today, my husband provided a great birthday for me. We went out to dinner at the Four Seasons (like Benihana, but way quieter) and we rode around talking. He gave me some nice perfume, a very nice watch and I received cards from our children and him. This birthday was different and just very special to me, probably because it was the first one I've spent with my love.

Four Seasons is a really nice restaurant. They cook your food right in front of you and the best thing....no shrimp! At the Japanese teppenyaki restaurant in Michigan that we frequented they always had a shrimp appetizer and since I'm allergic to shellfish they had to cook it last so there was no cross contamination. Also in Michigan the chef did tricks with the food and made a lot of noise while cooking by clanging on the table and other things. Now that I'm actually in Japan, I see how a lot of things that Americans like are really kind of silly to others. Americans are sometimes called 'Homers'. I just got through watching the Simpson's and if people from other countries can lump us in the same category as Homer Simpson, we as American's are not favored as much as we would like to think. I for one, don't want to be looked upon as someone like that.

I'm looking forward to many more birthdays like this one. Although I wasn't able to spend the day with my other family members and friends that are in the US, I'm certain that there will be other opportunities.
We came home and called for my daughter Janiece. We looked in her room, on the balcony, on the roof and all of the bedrooms and she wasn't there. We started to think that she had left the house to explore our Japanese speaking neighborhood. Then I think that Cari heard something in the closet and opened the door and low and behold someone fell asleep in the closet. She says she got in the closet because she kept hearing strange things and was scared. How funny!!