The best day ever......

Ok...I just had one of the coolest days EVER!!!!!!

So my paddle that I lost in the knarly swim....it was a very expensive upgrade to my gear that I did late last season. I love this paddle, my friends love this paddle. I get a call on Wednesday from a rafting company, telling me my paddle floated up to them in an eddy and they saw my postings (on local boating forums) that it was missing. I danced around and screamed with excitement...my paddle wanted to come home, he he he he.

I call my housemate/friend Patty and Michele, neither of them seemed too terribly excited. Patty at the very least I thought would be jumping up and down with me. Weird.

I drive all the way to Ft. Collins on Thursday (the birthday) to pick it up from the very nice boaters that saved it, with a case of thank you beer in hand. Still elated, thinking what an excellent birthday present from the river gods :) I was gone most of the afternoon and rushing back to go to a presentation Patty said was important I attend. Why I don't really know, but I thought it was my only time to hang out with her that day so I went. I was told earlier in the week 'hey we're just going to celebrate the mass birthdays when we're all camping this weekend, hope that's ok'. And it was I was ok with that, just hoped for some company Thursday night so I wouldn't have to be alone.

So Patty and I get done watching the presentation and I say I have to go home. I need to logon to work make sure I didn't miss anything important while I went to Ft. Collins. Patty looks at me like I'm crazy... She says are you sure, can't we just go here or there, I said I really need to go home to logon. So she drops me off at my car and I see her frantically texting and making phone calls. Weird.

We get home, I walk in the backyard and there is a small group of my friends screaming Happy Birthday to me. I stood there in shock mostly not having a clue what to say.....someone had to break the awkward silence and came up and gave me a hug. I think if I would have spoken anything I would have started crying. It all made sense though, things were weird the previous few days but I had no idea :) There were decorations, a huge cake, grilling burgers and drinking some beers. It was great.

That trumphed getting my paddle back, it made my day...my year really. I've never had friends like that to do something so nice for me. I felt blessed.

And.....there's more...... This group of friends presented me with a gift. A gift card for a local kayak shop to upgrade more gear. They also gave me some smack about my lost paddle since I hadn't put my name on it yet, which is a sin in the boating world. I later found out that, Patty had organized this group of people and the orginal present was to replace my lost paddle. REPLACE the very expensive paddle. Everyone had jumped at the opportunity to contribute and help including the local kayak shop after hearing about my epic day on the river when I lost the paddle. Then the paddle was found and thew off the whole deal :) Plan B was the gift certificate which will cover lots of gear upgrades. I can't even express in words how cool that is. It was such a cool feeling to have so much love and support from these people. I couldn't have asked for a better day and housemates who were intrumental in making it all happen. I went to bed last night with a huge smile on my face, I'll remember this for years to come!!!!

My record with friends in the past has been sketchy at best, but these two women I live with and the people around me, are genuinely good friends. I couldn't be luckier right now :)

Just thought I'd share my cool day! Thanks for the birthday wishes and see you all son :)



Yes that is someone's butt....not sure whose but I had a couple of those on my camera that was being passed around. There was one on my phone that they passed around which was much worse!!!!!