~Our Beautiful Daughter, beloved, sister, grandchild and friend
January 12, 1990 - June 15, 2007
I miss your fun-loving, vivacious personality and most of all your hugs and words, "I love you, mom."
To read about Brianna's fight for her life, you'll find her story 
I was honored to have an article and art published about how my precious 17-year-old daughter fought for her life and died a hero in my eyes. You'll find it in the Melange section, page 50, in 
The birthday celebrating began October 20 when our handsome son turned 18. From a sweet, pudgy child to a responsible man, Trevor has grown so quickly and is now 6'2" tall! We dined at Ruth Chris' Steakhouse and talked about college plans, high school activities and friends. John and I are so proud of our son.
On Saturday, it was my turn to celebrate. I turned...ahem...35 ...give or take 10 plus years! I headed to the city to meet John for lunch at the waterfront off Embarcadero Street. Friday turned out to be a stereotypical San Francisco day with fog and a constant drizzle of rain. I just loved it!
The TransAmerica Building rising into the gray skies.
For those of you who haven't been to the area, no trip is complete without a ride on BART - Bay Area Rapid Transit. That's how my husband gets to the city everyday for work - a 40 minute trip each way and $9 for the roundtrip. So I hopped on a train and met him at his office, and together we left to dine at Pier 7.
Looking out at the Bay from the restaurant windows was the Bay Bridge barely visible through the fog. This is the very same bridge that was closed recently for repairs after a piece of it fell off and crashed through the windshield of an unsuspecting commuter!
I ordered a crab salad sandwich with market fresh greens and John ordered a sole sandwich with crab mashed potatoes. My goodness were his potatoes delicious!
My birthday dessert was a sticky toffee bread pudding with house made vanilla bean ice cream...of course, I might as well have slapped it on my thighs! The sugar, butter and pure gooey-ness were so worthy of a birthday though!
The celebrating continued on Saturday when John and Trevor made me a wonderful pot roast dinner complete with candlelight and chocolate cake! It was a perfect fall meal with the crackling fireplace also setting the mood. I tried to milk another day of birthday celebrating out of them for today, but the Sunday routine quickly took over. Laundry, shopping and lots and lots of exercise to cancel all the extra birthday calories!
Throughout all the celebrating, we were keenly aware that our beloved Brianna was not with us. Happy events like these are bittersweet when you have lost someone so precious. Her birthday gift to me though was a wondrous dream last week of her coming back to us. I was overcome with joy as I hugged her and held her tight. And then I woke, tears still in my eyes. She was a beautiful vision.
Take time to celebrate with those you love, because each day is a gift.
Your family is so beautiful in so many ways. Happy Birthday to you all!
Posted by: Roni Seabury | November 08, 2009 at 04:25 PM
Happy b-day!
Posted by: Caroline | November 09, 2009 at 10:05 AM
Happy Happy Birthday Iva!!!
Chris (-:
XOXO
Posted by: Chris Klingler | November 09, 2009 at 10:11 AM
PS: Today is my brother's birthday as well!!!
KEWL & Njoy!!!
Chris
Posted by: Chris Klingler | November 09, 2009 at 10:13 AM
Happy Birthday! Happy Thanksgiving! There is so much to be grateful to God for.
Marcie
Posted by: Marcie | November 26, 2009 at 03:53 AM