Birthday Weekend and Laryngitis

I love how God loves on me through others. My birthday has been a sweet reminder of that. I got to spend my actual birthday, Friday, with my parents. It was fun to hang out with them. Dad let me drive his F-350 dualie around Murfreesboro for the afternoon and we stumbled upon a crazy huge mansion. No one I know seems to know about it. I'll have to keep asking. It's the most random thing.

Saturday was a lot of fun. I got to go out with a lot of my friends. We went to see The Secret Life of Bees based on a novel by Sue Monk Kidd. It was meant to be part of my birthday because my friend Julie loaned me the book about 4 years ago and last year when I found out they were making a movie, I decided that Julie and I had to go see it. When I returned from Sweden, I found out opening night would be my birthday, so then it was settled. The movie was very condensed compared to the book, but when you only have two hours to tell a story, that's what happens. Other than that it was great and felt true to the book. Although they did soften the ending. I enjoyed it and I think everyone else did. Lots of us were crying. So there's the warning: it's a tear jerker.

After the movie, we went out to dinner at Marina's on the square for some great Italian food. That's when I started loosing my voice but I didn't know it until I awoke the next morning barely able to talk. The worst part was that I was meeting a guy I recently met for coffee (which became tea for me) and then off to a Black and White costume party. My friend Mandy convinced me to make a concoction of hot water, lemon juice and cayenne pepper to get my voice jump started. I'm not sure I can say it remotely helped.

So now it's Wednesday and the laryngitis is starting to give way. My mom can now hear me on the phone without me feeling like I'm yelling. The laryngitis is the result of a sinus infection that has been brewing for weeks and is now full blown. I think my homeopathic remedies are starting to help. I'll have to share those crazy things another time. But through my birthday and being sick God has reminded me how loved I am by Him and by those around me (and that includes through some inappropriately hilarious greeting cards).