Happy birthday Edda!

A busy time, but good. Mostly. Vince and Dani flew in on Thursday for their spring break. Vince has been very anxious because this was the week where he was learning about matching or not matching with a lab. And because of all the potential funding issues that are all up in the air, I was a bit nervous for him too. But on Friday morning, he got news that he matched with his #1 lab with corporate funding in place. I know he’s nervous, but he’ll do great. Jeremy also got really good news during the week about his own funding at his job, so all good things. I’m pretty protected here at the USPTO, there are changes, but I think I, for the foreseeable future, get to do what I always do.

Everyone came in this weekend to help and attend Edda’s 21st birthday bash, held on the 22nd in the Main Street space. We rented the big event room and invited everyone we knew! I was really, really nervous before, though I do the easier part which is inviting and then socializing and Jeremy does the more complicated part, the actual pancake making. Both of us took most of Friday off. Jeremy spent 6 hours cooking 40 pounds of bacon. I spent most of Friday trying to not be anxious. Did I watch a movie? Maybe. I think I took a lot of naps.

Logistically, it was more complicated than all the years we’ve had it at the house. Because we were moving it to Main Street, Jeremy needed to pack all his kitchen equipment. He was kind of regretting this fact the night before the party and I said…let’s give it a chance! We were worried about 2 main things: 1) that we’d blow a fuse running 2 griddles and 1 crock pot off a single circuit and don’t know where the fuse box is and 2) they have an electronic virtual concierge which is confusing to get yourself into the party and I thought people would be trapped in the vestibule of the entrance. Neither of these things happened, thank goodness. We are also, strangely, down to only one car, so we rented a minivan for the week while the kids are in town. And in that minivan, we hauled our entire kitchen (almost) to Main Street. We were there at 8:30 for a 10 am start. A few folks arrived at 9:30(!) which was totally fine and in retrospect, should have been expected.

I felt like unlike the other years we’d had the party, the party started right at 10 am – none of this fashionably late crowd! My father was the first in line for the pancakes and bacon. We had such a nice turnout. Deb, Edda’s OT in elementary school. And Vince’s OT too! For handwriting.

Edda’s school team and student alumni!

My nursing/yoga friend!

It was so nice to have my parents, Jeremy’s parents and Vince all together for this party.

We had, in the end, about 120 people RSVP. We had such a great turnout from all groups of people that we know and one of the best things to see were groups of people saying hello to each other that have known each other but haven’t seen each other in a long time. The Rett families, Jeremy’s co workers past and present. Many of Edda’s caregivers got to see Edda and each other. Our extended families got to see each other and talk. That was really lovely. Ginny’s kids, Seni and Emelina, helped work the kitchen and were indispensable and Jeremy loved working with them to make all the pancakes. Lauren baked the lovely cake and Megan kept me company and took all these photos and helped me make signs and brought balloons. It was a good party! I remember when Edda was so little with such an overwhelming diagnosis and I literally thought I could not live to this day, but we made it and continue to keep going! And I’m so grateful for all the support everyone has given us, both big and small because we could not have done it without you all. Happy birthday Edda!