BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!

Saturday was my birthday. I turned a whopping 41. We were in Georgia for the Pig Jig and all the actual judging was on that day so I didn't get to sleep in. We had to be at the cook site at 9:30 a.m. to get the rest of the decorations up for the judging. I did get a nap in the afternoon in which I collapsed on the bed and slept for about 3 hours.

The judging went well and we won second in the Brunswick Stew category. This is a wonderful thick and hardy stew made with smoked pork shoulder. When you win you all get to go up on the stage and get the trophy as a team. When we went up to get the trophy Wilton grabbed the mic and told everyone,

"We have a special teammate who has been coming to the Pig Jig for 5 years from California and today is her birthday. We would like ya'll to sing 'Happy Birthday" to Debie."

So, I was serenaded by a thousand drunken rednecks for my birthday. Sweeeeeeet!

What made it so incredibly wonderful was that our team has not won anything in about 8 years. For them to take that time to do something like that for me took my breath away. As I walked back to my seat I got all teary which started Kelly and Robin crying. I was just so overwhelmed. I seem to be in the background much of the time. I don't make a lot of fuss and tend to be overlooked at home, but on my birthday for a few minutes I was "Queen of the Jig".

After the awards we had a "team meeting". I thought that something had happened and there were going to be changes, but again Wilton said "The Karaoke machine is broken right now so we'll just have to sing in here." and Kelly brought in a half sheet of cake ablaze with 41 candles. They all sang to me again and started to cry again. My name was even spelled right. I was again speechless. I felt so much love and acceptance with them. It is getting harder to leave every year.


Kelly and the cake. The trophy for the Brunswick Stew is behind me.

Speechless!

Me and Brown (Kelly's Husband) a super wonderful guy!


Thanks Beth for great photos!!!