My son Ryan is 29 today!

I'm well past the days when his birthdays would bring me up short thinking, "How can I possibly have a son who is blank years old?" but I still can't get my head around the idea that it's been 29 years since the day he was born. My memory of every moment from the time my water broke is so clear that it really does feel like a recent event.

Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, the question is more, "Was I ever that young?" I feel like I've been one age for a long time. My 20s were like that. I wasn't 25 or 28, I was 20-ish for 9 years. The 30s were definitely not like that! Talk about a cat on a hot tin roof. Every birthday set off a voice in my head saying move!... faster!...NOW!" like I could dodge the age bullets with some fancy zig-zaggy maneuvers! My 30s were all about ducking and weaving. My 40s have been pretty amazing though - the best decade so far. And I've heard a number of women say they think that about their 50s so...fingers crossed!

Anyway, this is about Ryan's birthday...since I was taking him out for dinner, he met me at my place. We had some time before our reservations which we spent scanning on-line florist sites. A girl he's dating is directing a play at Markham theatre and he's sending her opening night flowers. Have I mentioned that I love my kid? What a great guy. He found a beautiful bouquet of white asiatic lilies but boy, if you don't want roses, there's not a lot of creativity in on-line flower arrangements.

A guy at work had mentioned a new restaurant in PC called Il Pescatore so we decided to skip our regular (Spoon & Fork) and give it a try. My sister Laurel, her husband Randall and daughter Tara were joining us (my older neice, Melissa, is at Queens and couldn't be here).

The menu is pretty impressive, the food was very, very good and creatively displayed. They have a respectable wine list and the atmosphere is comfortable and intimate (read small). The only complaint might be that the service was incredibly slow but it didn't matter. It was so great seeing my sister's family.

They're usually at the cottage
or travelling so we don't get together a lot. In fact, Randall had just come back from Russia via Denver. He and Ryan were comparing their Blackberrys (?? I don't understand men, I mean I get it but I don't get it) and he was showing us how on his emails from Russia, the subject line RE: translates and displays as HA: so in a conversation thread, the subject line eventually becomes HAHAHAHAHA.

Tara fractured her jaw in three places earlier in the summer so she didn't do much other than picking up some extra credit for school. She's usually pretty active - water skiing, sailing, wakeboarding, tubing - so this was a tough one for her. She had her boyfriend up a few times though and has a lots of friends in the vicinity of Lake Joseph so she said it wasn't too bad. We're planning to go up for Thanksgiving so I'll take my OC-1 for her to try. Got an injury and can't do high-impact sports? Take up paddling.

Laurel and I did a little planning for our trip to Winnipeg for my cousin Debbie's wedding. Planning mostly involved what spa packages we're going to get at Stones. It was a really fun party and we called it a night shortly before 11. Happy birthday Ry - hope it's a great year!