Yesterday I captured some scenes from a fiftieth birthday. Nothing fancy occurred, but it was what the birthday girl wanted and that was all that mattered. At some point, many many years ago, we started a birthday tradition in our family. It’s a simple tradition. On your birthday, you choose breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You choose what you want and where you want it to be from. The choices run the gamut from favorite places to favorite home-cooked meals. Yesterday it was Rocky’s turn for her choices. Lunch was spent with me, Noah, and Isaiah at CPK. (The girls were in school.)

Dinner was spent at Thelma’s with a group of friends we have dinner with at least every other Friday now. And since it was one of those Fridays, the dinner choice was pretty simple. The best part was that none of them knew until they arrived, that it was even Rocky’s birthday. It was simple, casual, and again, exactly what she wanted. That’s all that matters.