All birthdays are special - it's an opportunity to celebrate another year of life!

And when you turn 80 - well, pull out the party hats and send out the party invitations - that's really reason to celebrate!
For Bev Sumption, of rural Glenwood, hitting the big "8-0" is particularly special - she'll be 80 on 08-08-08!
While Bev eats birthday cake and visits with friends and family on Friday, the summer Olympics will begin in Beijing, China - where the number 8 is considered to be very lucky.
For a gal about to celebrate her 80th birthday, she said she's been pretty lucky in life.
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Turning 80 on 08-08-08 is a play on numbers, but it's also a good opportunity to share a few moments from Bev's life.
When you ask someone to look back over the last 80 years of their life, you can almost see their memorable moments flash in their eyes like a movie montage:
1928 - Lucky delivery
Calvin Coolidge was President back then.
Alexander Fleming discovered Penicillin.
Aviator Amelia Earhart starts her attempt to become the first woman to successfully pilot an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean.
The 1928 Summer Olympics were celebrated in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, where, for the first time, the Olympic Flame was lit during the Olympics.
And Bev Swanson was born on a farm in Lyon County, Minnesota.
Back then, there was a measles outbreak in town and delivering at the hospital was not an option.
So, Bev's mother took a bumpy ride in a Model-T to the family farm to have her baby. In preparing for delivery at the farmhouse, the doctor stepped out for a cup of coffee and while sipping, heard a baby cry.
"My mother delivered me while he was on a coffee break," Bev laughed.
1946 - Lucky in love
Bev and her then beau, Jim, were neighborhood kids who grew up together.
In high school, Jim was a basketball player and Bev was a cheerleader.
Jim, who was a few years older than Bev, was drafted out of high school to serve during World War II.
When he returned from the war two years later, he finished the last few months of high school he had remaining and Bev and Jim graduated from Minneota High School together in 1946.
That summer, after high school, they married and moved to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where Jim went to college and they started a family. They had seven children.
1962-1972 - Lucky find
Jim became a pastor and during his service, the Sumption family moved quite often. From 1962-1972 Jim served a three-point parish in Pope County - Immanuel, Indherred and St. John's. While living here, they bought a little piece of land on a quiet little pond between Starbuck and Glenwood - they call it their "Golden Pond retreat."
There were two other moves after Jim served the Pope County churches. He retired in 1978 and they made that little Golden Pond retreat their home.
They still live there today.
Bev said it's a lot like the movie, "On Golden Pond."
"Especially when it's towards fall and the sun sets over our way... those sunsets are absolutely golden... and to hear those loons, oh my," she said with a dreamy, glossy gaze. "We enjoy nature so much."
On turning 80
Last week, after having lunch with her daughter, Faith Anderson, Bev stopped by the Tribune office for an interview and when she was asked for her thoughts on being 80 years old, she said, "I didn't mind being 60. I really liked being 50, but my sister said, ‘80 is the new 60.' I don't feel 80."
"I'm thankful every day of my life that I can walk and talk - well, sometimes I talk too much - but, I'm so thankful for the health I have. I thank God for that every day, because I know it could be gone in the blink of an eye.
"I really have to admit I've had a really good life," Bev said. "God has blessed me in so many ways - I have healthy children and healthy grandchildren and great-grandchildren. My husband's health is not that great, but he keeps trying. Maybe that's what life's all about."
And when asked about the best life lesson she's learned, Bev said, "As I look back, it's very interesting because we've lived a lot of places, we've experienced sadness, we've experienced being short of money a lot, but we've experienced a lot of high points when people have said things to us like, ‘If it hadn't been for you guys...' When you hear things like that, it's a high point in life - not to take credit for yourself, but because you've made a difference in someone's life."
That's Bev's life lesson we can all learn from.
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By the way, Bev's birthday party plans are in the hands of her children.
"I think it's really neat," she said. "Any excuse to get the children together - even if it's turning 80."