Karen's Perfect Birthday Present

This fall has been a challenge for Karen. First her stroke, then the recovery, with everyone watching her every move and trying to make sure she doesn't try to do too much too fast. Yes, it's nice that people care, but even I'll admit that we can be a little overprotective at times.

Wednesday was Karen's birthday, which didn't offer much time for her to celebrate. We were loading the truck for this weekend's Birch Run, Michigan show (much more about the show and a local restaurant legend tomorrow), so everyone was running around and nerves were frazzled. Karen's oldest son Michael came in to take her to lunch and he was still waiting when I got there at 2:00.

Then she got the mail . . .



This is the card that arrived from Scott and Alexis in North Carolina (Scott is Karen's 26-year-old) with the news that she has been waiting (begging? pleading?) years for. She's gonna be a grandma for the first time.



Of course, the card and accompanying sonogram made the trip north with us. This made for a nice change of pace -- last month in Fort Wayne, customers and vendors alike were coming to welcome Karen back to the show circuit. She got some of those yesterday, too -- but I noticed quickly that there is quite a difference between a delicate "welcome back" hug and an enthusiastic "you're going to be a grandma" hug . . .