Birthday Wishes To Heidi

She was the first born, our little "pineapple" born when we lived on Oahu, Hawaii. We were half-way around the world, and thousands of miles from her Grandmas and Grandpas and Aunts and Uncles, from family; but she was a beautiful baby, our first baby. I wanted to name her Leilani, which is a form of the word lei, which is the flower wreaths the Hawaiians place around visitors necks to welcome them to the islands. I couldn't believe how gorgeous those flowers were. I wanted to name her after them, but her father had other ideas, and so she was named Heidi Marie Vrbas. The Marie is for Jerry's mom, sister and grandmother, who were all Marys, of one sort or another. He was probably right, the name would have seemed weird when we were back on the mainland. (Shh! Don't tell him I admitted that!) Now that you know where she was born, is it any wonder she and I can eat a whole pineapple ourselves?!

Happy Birthday, Heidi!