July is the month of my wedding anniversary . . . in fact, today is the day. However, I’m not married now, but it still brings back memories of when I was. One of the wonderful memories was when our daughters prepared a dinner for Darrell and me to be eaten in their playhouse. The playhouse is in the above picture with Cindy in the foreground and the famous rocking horse that Teri loved so much sitting right in front of the playhouse. I think she probably rode it a few times while she was preparing dinner. My dad had asked a friend, Oscar Alajoki, who lived in Hood River where my folks lived, if he’d build the playhouse which he did. They then brought it down to Portland on a truck. The girls were thrilled!

So they decided to surprise us with a dinner in the playhouse for our 15th wedding anniversary. They made a beautiful heart-shaped cake, and Teri explained how she did it when she was up here the last time. She had to draw me a picture before I could grasp the concept. She apparently had no trouble grasping the concept when she made it! Young people are so quick and smart . . . or maybe it’s that we get dumb and stupid as we get older. She made one square cake and one round cake. She cut the round one in half and placed the half pieces on the square cake which made the heart. I have no idea how that was accomplished without my knowing unless she cooked it at Ruth’s house down the street. Ruth was and is a good friend and Randy’s mother. Randy was Cindy’s buddy. Teri and Cindy frosted the cake and made a No. 15 out of red hots in the center. In the above picture, part of the cake is missing. I guess we ate it. They used the “Cook Book for Kids” and made garlic bread sticks out of poppin’ fresh rolls. I wish I knew how to do that.

They had to clean out all the spiders in the playhouse as they knew how scared I was of spiders. As they were getting ready, Darrell and I went down to Ruth and Bob’s house for a drink. I don’t know how many we had – just long enough for the girls to get ready. When we came home, we were very surprised at the effort they put into it without our even knowing. They were so sweet to do something like that and we loved it. I think they served us through the playhouse window like they do at drive-thru places. I don’t think there was an entrée as none of us can remember one. The whole day was a good day thanks to our daughters.

It’s funny, but I don’t remember any of our other anniversaries – I think this one was the best even without an entrée. Now if I can only get my hands on that “Cook Book for Kids,” I might be able to make some poppin’ fresh garlic sticks and possibly even an entrée. But I won’t be eating it in the playhouse. As I’ve found out during my life, nothing ever stays the same which can be good and sometimes really sad. But I try to remember the good times and not dwell on the “not so good” times. Thanks to our daughters, this was a very good time.