Marie's Birthday

Last Thursday was Marie's birthday. When I heard my mom and Aunt Sarah were taking her out to eat I totally invited myself. I figured I could just meet up with them after work and we could make it a fun little girl party. But then my mom told me my Aunt planned on coming earlier in the day so she didn't have to deal with traffic and driving in the dark on her way back to Gainesville, which made perfect sense. I didn't even hesitate to take off half a day of work. I asked my boss who is always really understanding of our lives outside of the office. So that was that. I left work at 12pm. 

I swung by Publix to pick up flowers and a card. It took me forever to pick out the perfect flowers. Marie does not get mediocre flowers ever. I wanted the perfect mix, which after 10 minutes of circling, I finally found. 

 I then met everyone at The Cheesecake Factory. It was pretty busy for a random Thursday. We had to wait a few minutes. While waiting I received a text from Hayley that she was able to FaceTime. So I called her and the minute her face popped up on my screen the waitress told us our table was ready. So I held the phone up so Hayley could see us walking to the table. Of course I got lots of weird looks and stares. Apparently one guy thought I was knee deep in playing Pokemon Go. No sir, just enjoying a FaceTime sesh with my cousin so she can be included in this all girl birthday party from across the United States. Hayley just so happened to be in a Target somewhere in Arizona. She was buying an interview dress before she caught a flight to Connecticut. It was just perfect timing that she got to see and talk to Marie at the same time. Marie was so cute and asked me "Can she see us?" and I replied "Yes!". It's times like these when technology is just extra cool. We said goodbye to Hayley and looked at the menu. 

I was the only one out of our foursome that didn't order their Shephard's Pie. I went with the fetticine alfredo and oh-em-gee was it good. I mean, you can't go wrong with anything from that place. We had the best time just talking about random topics. We discussed reality shows (I have added Married At First Sight to my watchlist) and talked about their childhood with Marie. I really loved learning about Marie's life. She told me she and Bubba (her late husband) moved to Florida  from Georgia when they were 25 and that's when she started working for my grandparents. I asked her what made them want to move and she said because she would see license plates that read "The Sunshine State" and thought it sounded so nice. I also didn't realize she had so many siblings. I think it was 7 or so. I can't remember the exact number but she comes from a big family! My aunt asked if she ever had a birthday party growing up and she said in those days no one could afford a party. So then I asked if she got a birthday cake for her birthdays. She did! Well on this birthday she got a lemon meringue cheesecake and looked like she was in heaven taking a bite. The cheesecake staff even sang to her which I don't think she enjoyed even though she was a good sport. Lunch was so fun and I'm glad I took off to be apart of it. My Aunt and mom took Marie home and I headed to my own home in the opposite direction full of happiness (and lots of pasta).