Great
We haven’t seen the “boy” in a while. So, I got a pic out of the catalog… looking again. He’s older now. Boy? Well, he was the only boy on Lisa’s side of the family. The others were all girls. The family was surprised when Dave arrived. It was easy. They would call and ask how the boy was doing and Dave was the only one. On my side, my brothers all had sons. Jules considered herself lucky to be female. It is his birthday today. So – Happy Birthday. When you type that into the iPhone you get balloons with the message. I love that!
Reconciliation
I would never say, “We won. You lost!” (The trump presidency is still raw. We’re in DC together – a few years back.) Ginny never lets me forget her birthday. She always calls a few days ahead. Ha ha. So, Happy!! She’s one of my only remaining Republican friends. She knows that too. We speak infrequently of politics. This is not the closest Colleen has been to a Republican. Colleen lived in rural West Virginia. But since she no longer lives there, her encounters have been fewer. Colleen allows me to stay in touch. But, nowadays I wear a mask and sanitize after every encounter outside the family.
Once
The story goes like this. I remember Susan’s birthday because she told me and I made this post on the spot back in May. Otherwise I’m a lost cause. Of course, I can/could write birthdays in a list somewhere. I didn’t/don’t. My bad!
The pic? Susan’s husband and his buddy are making out in a hot tub….. we were staying in a rental. Apres ski, the boys walked in on my (former) wife and Susan in the hot tub. You do the math…. I’m just sayin’ I wasn’t there. No harm no foul. It was a few decades ago. Thank goodness memory fades. Happy Birthday! My odds are not good to remember next year’s date.
HB
I try to remember John on his birthday. He was the best of us – good heart, sense of humor, gentle, family man, good dad, loved to fish.
Memories
I have a bright memory of the day – May 27, 1960. It was the last day of school, third grade. We had just moved the past year and I attended Elkins First Ward. Miss Ray was my teacher. She drove a bright red Valiant. I had just met Colleen. The day? It was Eric’s birthday. He’d been born in the overnight hours at Davis Memorial hospital. My father had left us (John and myself) sleep. He’d taken my mother to the hospital and returned in time to get me to school. John was still pre-school. We’d been left alone overnight. I never gave it a thought (you can’t just leave kids these days). Meanwhile, it’s Eric’s birthday again. I won’t be with him this year. I got a shot this morning using a macro lens I dug out of the closet. It was a mission/quest. And it was another excuse to post a random flower pic taken today. I’ve got a full-blown garden going. And the other slide is from years back with Eric holding his favorite nephew, Steven. It’s not fair to the other kids, but there was a special affinity. Otherwise, we must be PC and say he loved everyone “equal.” But there was chemistry between them. Happy birthday.
HB HB!
Yes, Happy Birthday Dave. Big one! Thirty years ago. His obstetrician showed up sleepy eyed. She was a member of a group so I met her for the first time in the delivery room. Her name was Ida. Hey! Get it? Ida Ho. The state, the potato, one of the names I wanted for my kids. Or Ivan… She was not too comical at 4AM. And poor Aunt Audrey was there at home taking care of Jules, his sister. She had asked that Dave not be born in the wee hours. She was sweet. She came from the Bronx to watch Julia in the middle of the night. And, my chief resident had last said to me, “Don’t go into labor, we got a big operation in the morning.” And, it was a terribly difficult vertebral artery aneurysm. And of course, we postponed the operation. In order to assuage the poor patient, I told him that I had named my son after him. A year later he appeared for his post op visit and asked how his boy was. My puzzled look was followed by, “You know! Vincent! Vincent Pallazoto Jr.” Oh, yeah!
This is wedding weekend again. You just gotta love the shot. We had a muscle car courtesy of the rental upgrade in Los Angeles. A Dodge Challenger! Yes, it’s a fast car. We never did get to drive it fast. But the boys looked cool sitting on it.
And for Susan, here’s another shot of the kids as they are today. And for those who want to see the dad, here I am again.
photobackstory 