Last night was my birthday party. After most folks had gone, Bonnie Tyler’s “Hero” somehow found its way in to the speakers and we were caught by the spirit and were moved to spontaneous sofa dancing. My position is behind the sofa, in case you couldn’t tell with the legs flying up in the air…

My 30th birthday is in one week, August 25, and I’m feeling good about it. I’m not angsty or dreading anything, but am feeling a bit thoughtful.

I was looking at pictures of Matt’s 10 year high-school reunion and he was pointing out fat girls who used to be pretty and popular and it got me wondering what all my high-school friends are up to these days. A little googling has gotten me back in touch with two people and given me ways of contacting a couple of others. From what I know, everyone has done well for themselves and it makes me feel glad. I’ve always had great friends and it’s nice to know that we’re all doing good things.

A lot of birth and death has been going on in my family in recent years and while geneaology has always interested me, I’ve never done much lasting research. My poor mother has been asked the names of deceased family members numerous times throughout my life, but I’m finally doing something with a bit more permanence. I’m going through the process of building an online family tree. It’s very exciting and I look forward to doing the research to fill in all the blanks.

My Uncle Johnny, now deceased, had done a great deal of work on my paternal genealogy. He had gotten as far as tracing a set of grandparents back to Syria and what’s now Lebanon. My mom remembers seeing a copy of the info somewhere in her house. The other stuff was in my Aunt Jackie’s house during Katrina, so where it is, if anywhere, will be a mystery for awhile.

My cousin, Bernadette, has also done a great deal of research on the maternal side and I’ll hopefully be able to get a copy of everything she’s done if it made it through the storm. I think it’d be great to incorporate everything in to something online that can be shared and edited amongst our family members.

On the professional front, Frank and I have decided to breathe new life in to Paramount Rentals, a business we helped his cousin, Stan, setup a few years ago. I’ve been working on setting up a new web site and re-establishing relationships. It’s a lot of fun and I think there’s great potential for it to do well. We have a few ideas up our sleeves for new business angles and I’m really looking forward to making it all work.

I’m having a birthday picnic tomorrow and will post some pics from that soon!