Happy Birthday BigD

Today is the BigD's birthday.  

How many candles should she be blowing out this evening? 

In the interests of protecting her affection for me, I won't tell, but here are a few clues...

The D is about 30 here.  And yep, she's rockin' the 'fro.

In her late 20s here...And yep, she's rockin' the do rag in the back row

In her late 20s as well...I think my birthday party..We know how to throw a party, for sure. Balloons, cake, giant bowl of collard greens. Love it. (Still with the big hair.)

Summer holiday on Kiawah Island.  Mid 1990s. (Big hair tucked under a straw hat this time, but no fooling us.  We know it's there, D)

Late 1990s, in an Upper East Side elevator. Neither of us inhairited the gene...(bwahaha) 

Mid 2002---Upper upper Westside rooftop of a Mexican resturant...Chips and salsa in honor of my getting a pretty piece of frame-worthy paper. Later on, my siblings and I will spend  happy evening at Hogs&Heifers. Better than nachos, but all day, D's hair was perfect. 

But let's jump forward to 2008, which was not, on many counts, a good year.  

For people who have been following along, there have been health issues and family issues.

...but take a closer look...

The Girls showed up for every single thing. 

Now we're in 2008, D with 2 of The Girls. The hair has tamed in just a few short years...

Everyone important showed up as well... 

Also, 2008, with Bill. 

The BigD fan club met several times, beginning with a send-off to the last unsettled of the offspring.

A meeting of BigD's core fan club, February 2008.  We decided to be fancy that day. 

And it was a happy day.

One of D's best faces.

See, all gone...

D's hair even looks good from the back.  She's snazzy like that.

And then there is the obvious adoration of many of her favorite people.  (If you ever make a drive-by of the D's Gainesvegas neighborhood, roll down your window and listen carefully, you may here small voices hollering "Neeeee Neeee.")

August 2008 with one of her three favorite grandchildren. 

I wish I had more photographs of all the similar good things that happened in 2008, because there would be stacks of them.

So, when you look at it as a whole, even with all of the negative, 2008 was not so bad (or at least not nearly as bad as it could be...).  

The health issues are resolved with some fancy new parts. 

The family issues were expected and awful, but are in the midst of shaking themselves out.  

And most of all, there were piles and piles of support from every expected and many unexpected sources, so if bad things had to happen, it was all in the best way possible.  

So the way I see it, BigD's 2009 has great potential. 

So happy birthday BigD, may the next year be full of every single bit of the good things and not one bit of any of the bad.  

Also, August 2008, just a  girl's night out.  (Of course Bill is always invited...)

And her hair was perfect.