August 11, 2021

White Dog has coordinated and organized plans for Steve's birthday which is this coming Monday. A big use of her skills has been distracting Steve, the mail and package delivery frontman, from paying too much attention to items coming in that he should not take too much notice of.

A contrived "argument" in the kitchen between Roman and Bailey was convincing enough that Steve tossed the box he had just brought in onto the sun porch sofa and hurried out to intervene. A business call had him rush from separating the two to his office...package temporarily forgotten.

Zsofia calmly slid the brightly colored menu of our favorite Indian restaurant out of the folder and brought into the bedroom. The White Dog Army huddled around making suggestions for Monday's birthday dinner. "It can't be ALL vegetables," White Dog said. "Maybe some tandoori chicken." "Or Tikka Masala." "What about Lamb Korma?" I heard Steve coming. "OK guys, we have some good ideas but we will need to narrow it down a bit. Think about it but don't let dad hear you. 19 items is too many."

A mailer bag magically appeared next to me. I looked inside to discover a tshirt I ordered long ago that I thought had not arrived. Opal smiled up at me. "Dad set this aside weeks ago to ask you about. I took it and hid it in the toybox. He forgot about it."

Steve has a project deadline on Monday so he will not be able to relax and spend the day being pampered. White Dog's plan is that we will stretch the celebration across the weekend and end with a lovely no-fuss birthday night dinner and a movie. But as White Dog said when I asked if plans were finalizing, "IT won't be final until the last candle is blown out and the last bite of blueberry pie ala mode licked from the plate so stay flexible, momma.