Danae's Birthday

I love, love, love my English teacher colleauges.  Or should I say, my old English teacher colleagues.  It is the biggest downside to taking my new position in the district - leaving these ladies!  We have grown quite close this past year; I guess going through difficult times (adjusting to the demands of Dubiski!) really does bring you together.  That, and we're all just good people who like to laugh and who care for others.  Who would have known that this group of near-perfect strangers could have "gelled" so well together?  We're not only work friends, but we're real friends.  We've gotten together several times this summer just to catch up!  (On a side note, it seems like all departments at our school are this way - close with one another.  Our principal did a very good job hiring personalities who work well with a team!  Although rigorous and demanding, it was the best place I've ever worked due to the people who worked there!)

This year, we have taken turns showering each other with gifts and parties and such for our birthdays, but one of us, Danae, has a dreaded summer birthday.  I say "dreaded" because you know how it is when you're in school - all the June/July/August birthdays get skipped or clumped together and no one ever gets the same treatment.  It's no different if you're a teacher.  We felt that we couldn't leave her out, so we planned a long, long time ago (in May) to meet on this day to celebrate her birthday.

Danae and I have a special link because we both came back from Spring Break with a baby in our bellies!  Danae's baby is due about 5 days before mine; we're already making plans for our little ones to have play dates!  I brought my camera to our luncheon with every intention of taking a group picture with all of us, and then of taking a picture of our bellies together at about 6 months pregnant, but OF COURSE that didn't happen.  Sigh, well, there's always next time.

We ate at The Cheesecake Factory - a place that is known for its relaxed dining (read:  slow service), but we had no idea it would take over 2 hours for just 5 of us to eat!  We enjoyed talking with each other, but it was getting a little ridiculous to wait so long (maybe that's just my pregnancy hormones complaining).  Good thing we all got some cheesecake for dessert - it was a nice distraction from how long the service was taking.