Celebrating: We Now Have a 21 Year Old!
Plus: Share what *you're* celebrating in the comments.
Hi, it’s me.
This is my 100th published newsletter!
Do you remember when all TV was network or cable TV, and a season ran for a staggering 26 episodes? It was kind of a big deal for shows to celebrate their 100th episode with a special storyline. I thought it was because *Yay! We made it!* but in researching this I learned that the BIGGER reward was that TV shows qualified for syndication after 100 episodes. *cha-ching!!* 1
I’m proud of us for 100! Let’s celebrate!
In the comments, let’s all share things we’re celebrating! Maybe you’re excited about an article you wrote that got published, a class you signed up for, a hard decision you finally made, a word count you hit, a draft you finished, a newborn grandbaby, a college acceptance letter – whatever you’re celebrating, let’s celebrate with each other!
On Sunday we celebrated Ruthie’s 21st birthday! At dinner she ordered a cocktail, proudly handing over her driver’s license for the ID check. She’s our oldest — another parenting milestone checked off!
When Ruthie and her best friend Ellaria (pictured) first met in the fourth grade, we had just moved back into Seattle from the suburbs. We were renting a seventh floor townhome style condo unit in the Belltown neighborhood, on the outskirts of downtown. Here was the spectacular view from our balcony:
We used the second floor primary suite as an office for our small businesses. The room opened up to a giant private roof deck with a panoramic view that stretched from downtown, across the Seattle waterfront, to the Olympic Mountains — perfect for hosting Hump Day Happy Hours every Wednesday as a networking event.
The kids would get home from school in the middle of the event, so I always had taquitos and lemonade on hand for them when they arrived. During one of these happy hours I got a call from Stephanie, the mom of Ruthie’s new school friend.
“Um, hi,” she said, sounding a little confused. “My daughter just called and asked if she could go to Ruthie’s for happy hour? Can you… Is that…”
I laughed. “We’re hosting a work-related happy hour, but I promise the girls will stick to the lemonade.” With that confusion cleared up, Ruthie’s friend had permission to come over.
Later that evening, Stephanie stopped by to pick up Ellaria, and I invited her to have a beer on the balcony as the sun set. We’ve been friends ever since, always laughing about how we met because our ten-year-old girls had happy hour at Ruthie’s. In fact, two years later she sent me this:
Ellaria turned 21 in January, so now she and Ruthie are in it together. From their first happy hour until now, these two have grown up together into beautiful, strong, thoughtful, smart women.
And that’s something to celebrate! I look forward to reading in the comments about what *you’re* celebrating.
Until next time,
Jen
One Second Every Day
Here’s a video of some moments I celebrated in February, though I was sick for most of the month so it’s mostly my pets 🤣:
Here’s a fun article from March 2023 ranking the top ten “100th episode” episodes on television.
What?! 21?! How? Lol a belated happy birthday to Ruthie! I'm just coming back from a Gothic Cruise. Yes, Gothic themed lol. It was a lot of fun and I met some pretty awesome people so I'm celebrating that. Hope you are feeling better.
Congratulations on both counts! Wow, 21 seems so far away for my kids, but I know it’s right around the corner. Kids friends who become our friends are such a treasure!