This is a short blog, but I had to write about this today. It was a remarkable day, once again shedding some light on just what a great life I have. Our first scheduled event was  the 1st birthday celebration of Sophie Meadows, daughter of Brittany and Mike.   Mike plays guitar for an artist who has enjoyed a bit of success (hee hee) and ended his tour last night just in time for his daughter's first birthday.  I recall birthdays for Aaron and Lauren being month-long celebrations in case Daddy was out on tour.   I drank the spiked pink lemonade (oh, I love kids' birthday parties these days) and talked and joked with our Nashville family, many who came here from Virginia  through Tony to play music. Good grief, but I love these people. Mike and Brittany. Amos and Kara. Great friends. We left Sophie's party after seeing her daintily and carefully pick at her cake and headed to Judah Vergason's 2nd birthday party.

 Lauren made Judah Thomas the Train engine cupcakes, and I was very excited about him opening up his presents from us….basically a Thomas starter kit and more.   Judah calls me Aah- Sarah.  When he sees me he usually says "cracker," not because he thinks I'm a white woman who can't dance, but because I usually slip him a cracker, cookie or something his mother probably doesn't have in the cupboard.   Everyone needs an Aa-Sarah to hand them a cracker from time to time.   I got to snuggle with week-old Davis Anthony, born in the car (yeah…true that) in the emergency lane at Vanderbilt Hospital.  I remarked at one point that his head is perfect and Devin commented that it would be because he didn't linger down there too long! Judah shoved the blue cupcake in his mouth which was an improvement on last year when Devin put Cheerios on the top to bribe him into eating it!!  I looked down at Davis snuggling up to me, and I thought to myself how interesting the twists and turns of our lives can be.   What if Tony had never played that show in Anchorage and met Devin who had just happened to win a karaoke contest to sing on the side stage. What if she hadn't moved to Tennessee to pursue a singing career?  Our lives are forever changed because of that one day and those circumstances.  I love Devin and Davis like they are my own nephews.  I love Dylan and Devin like they are blood relatives. I have been blessed with an amazing family (see my blog on “You can Pick your Nose, but you can’t pick your Family”) of my own, but I have these amazing friends in my life who have become my surrogate family when I am so far from my own family.