Shannon will be 21 next Friday! She was home for the weekend so we had friends over for dinner and a birthday party last night. I went through all my old pictures and found a bunch of pictures of her over the last 21 years. I went to Kinko’s and had them blown up to 8×10 and I put them up on the walls all over the house with the happy birthday signs. I know that every parent of a 21 year old says this, but it seems like only yesterday that she was just a cute little kid with lots of personality. I must be in denial because I put 18 candles on her cake! I am so proud of the adult she has become. It is just so amazing how fast 21 years go by.
It was great to see my friends too. They have all know Shannon since she was born. Whenever we entertain I always realize how much I enjoy it and that we should do it more often. When you are really busy you tend to think you just don’t have time but it really isn’t that hard. I just have to make it happen. I am reminded of a great piece I read by Tom Stienstra in his book California Fishing. I just found it on his web site. It is called Beating the Time Trap. Basically what he says is that if you enjoy doing things you will only find time for them if you schedule them. Stienstra is talking about outdoors activities but I think it is true for other things like entertaining too. If I want to entertain friends more I just need to schedule it.
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