Today is Meryl Streep’s birthday. I love her. I want her to come over to our house for dinner. I would make chicken enchiladas with cilantro/sour cream sauce, black beans, and grilled pineapple slices with honey Greek yogurt for dessert. She would swoon over this delightful meal and then we would all go for a long walk down by the river. We would take lots of pictures and tell her all about salmon fishing on the Umpqua River in September. She would promise to come back in Sept. and go with us on our next trip. It is a perfect evening of laughter and connection and fun. Then she would send us a thank you note every couple of weeks for a year and become our new best friend. She and her family would begin coming to southern Oregon to “…get away from it all…” which, let’s face it, is perfect, because you can’t get much further away- from-it-all than we are without falling into the Pacific Ocean.

Anyway, that’s my fantasy for today. So, Happy Birthday, Meryl. Dinner’s at 7. JS