Birthday presents

I am the luckiest person I know.  I am going take a small tangent here and elaborate on that. My Girl asserts that she is the luckiest, by virtue of her having found me.  I'll grant you that she's lucky.  However, to resolve this dispute we decided that the people who know us best would be in the best position to say who got the better bargain.  So, we agreed that my mother and my daughters would be the judges (this was a couple of years ago, even before we were married).  She agreed to this!  As I knew they would, they ruled -- after we each presented our cases as to why we thought we were the luckiest -- that I was, in fact, that person.  I assert that it's like binding arbritation and not subject to appeal.  Nevertheless, she continues to protest.  ::sigh:: Have you ever been married to a lawyer?  It can be difficult. LOL!

Anyway, rather than drag you through the whole long story, I'll just tell you that I got to lobby as part of my birthday.  As you can see from my prior post, I was in DC the past couple of days.  I lobbied Congress as part of the Servicemembers' Legal Defense Network's annual Lobby Day for the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.  I got assigned to a team of lobbyists that included a recently retired Major General and a retired Command Master Chief Petty Officer. I was the most experienced lobbyist in the group, however, and I really enjoyed myself and I really think we helped nudge the effort forward incrementally.

I spent the first night in a hotel just across the street from the apartment I lived in while I was working for SLDN. Then, I had dinner and spent the night with the Girl's brother and sister-in-law the second night.  What sweet, lovely people they are.  The next day, yesterday, was my birthday and I spent it with a small group of first-time lobbyists. It was a nice birthday present for me to be there.  I had a great time. 

I got home last night early enough for a late dinner and presents opening.  Among my presents were a new digital camera, a brand new Wii, a ten pack of movie DVDs (I love and collect movies), a new Rainbow Law Center shirt, and a new Tigers baseball cap.  On my computer, I got e-cards from my sister and my sweetheart and a dozen or so e-mails or other e-birthday wishes (Facebook is a cool way to remember someone's birthday and jot them a wish). I even got a phone call from my youngest daughter.  All in all, a delightful birthday.

As I said, I'm the luckiest person I know.