The day everyone showed up

Team Toppall just had a very big day.  The biggest!  For 3 weeks leading up to Saturday, February 9th, I freakishly checked the 10 day forecast on two different weather apps twice a day, no joke! Each day we got one day closer for the day I needed to have good weather.  Eventually I got to the point where February 9th finally started appearing in the 10 days forecasted and I could to start to finally breathe easy that Mother Nature will not mess up our plans.  The Washington DC metro area is unable to handle even the littlest bit of Winter weather and is quick to shut down.  It was a very real threat that the 2nd week in February could've been a huge disaster to have family fly in or drive down from NJ.

Why the worry?   Everyone from Orlando and relatives from New Jersey and Maryland came to town to celebrate my mom's 75th birthday (which actually IS February 9th) and to attend Ian's play, "Rock of Ages".   We only had once chance to get it right as the family flew in on Friday afternoon and was flying back on Sunday afternoon.

What a day it was!  It was perfect in every way and honestly, it felt surreal how all it all came together.  I feel so fortunate that everyone wanted to come to town and cheer Ian on in his role as Lonny Barnett.  He completely killed it.  With my mom turning 75 that day, my sister and I hosted a festive lunch at a nearby restaurant that made my mom feel special.   The icing on the cake was getting my cousin LeeAnn and her wife to come down from NJ.  This was very much unexpected and my mom couldn't believe her eyes when LeeAnn walked in the room.

The day went without a hitch.  The weather didn't get in our way.  The family was all together (with the exception of Meghan who recently moved to San Diego) and there was much reason to celebrate. As Mary Poppins would say, "Practically perfect in every way."

And now Winter can resume with its plans for snow, sleet or ice.  I've gotten beyond the one day I cared about, to the point I was losing sleep over it, and am back to breathing easy and enjoying watching the snow that is currently falling as I write this.