Happy Barfday to Me!

Yesterday was Happy 38th to me. The 30s are waning, folks. And fast.

My brother gave me a special Bible verse "...now that (I'm) nearing 40."

'O God, You have taught me from my youth; and to this day I declare Your wonderous works. Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, do not forsake me, until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to everyone who is to come.' Ps. 71:17-18

Har har.

The day started out so nicely. Michael turned off my alarm so I slept in, waking a little later to my family singing me the HB song and bringing me coffee in bed. Family devotionals. Croissants from my favorite bakery. Nice. We headed to the marina with our swimsuits and sunscreen, and then up the coast stopping every now and then to take a dip in the water. We ended up off of beautiful Malibu.

What a perfect, gorgeous day! Swimming in the ocean. Jumping off the bow. Listening to great music. Yummy lunch. Back in the water. What more could I ask? It was little choppy, but otherwise a completely lovely day out on the ocean.

After a few hours we decided to move up the coast a little more so Michael turned the key and it sounded like the noise when you get a fork stuck in the garbage disposal. Not good. The starter had died.

We got stranded! The older kids thought this was very funny and sang the "Gilligan's Island" theme over and over. Not super hysterical in my opinion at that very minute.

That's when we had to call SeaTow to tug us into port.

That's when the waves really started to rock and roll.

That's when our rescue took an hour to arrive.

And that's when the babies started wailing and screaming.

I'm going to digress here and say that you just never know when The Best Day Ever is going to hit. A couple of months ago the two of us were in San Francisco for just 24 hours. But what a DAY! We flew in, checked in to our hotel, ate lunch, lounged in the sun, strolled down to Pier 39, and enjoyed a relaxing, foggy harbor cruise. We walked hand-in-hand through town, napped, went out to a nice dinner, caught a late movie, and indulged in midnight dessert at Mel's Diner. We woke up early, had coffee and rolls in a great bakery, checked out, and cruised around the city before picking up the older kids in Sacramento. Talk about The Best Day Ever! It was idyllic!

This was not that day.

The waves were getting big. I'm talking big. Lose your footing and hit your head waves. There were seven of us stuck on a stranded boat. Crying babies. Our anchor dragging. Getting closer to shore. Wondering where on earth SeaTow could be. Did I mention the crying babies? Bigger waves. More waiting.

Let's just say it went downhill from there. SeaTow finally arrived, hooked us up and started to tow us in. Very, very slowly because of the whitecaps.



And, THAT, my friends, is when the barfing started.

Lots of barfing.

Contagious barfing.

Barfing off the stern. Barfing off the splash deck. Barfing IN the cabin.

Michael, who can handle almost anything but vomit, bolted for the bow to get fresh air so he didn't lose his cookies, too.

I tried to keep the babies out of the mess... Don't ask. It was gross.

Isn't it amazing how FAST things can go badly? One minute we're enjoying a birthday out on the water, the next it's Barf-o-rama! Once we finally got everything cleaned up and hosed down we then realized that SeaTow had put a nice hole in the hull. FUN!

Now that all the little tummies were empty, everyone was starving. After feeding the kids and putting them to bed, we shared a glass of wine, joked about basking in the glow of an idyllic day, and laughed until we cried.

Happy 38th barfday to me!