The Birthday Crew

I lived under the same roof as my father for just the first fourteen years of my life.  Dad died on May 31, 1981.  He was just fifty-seven years old.   

Margaret and I, for the past ten years, lived with my father-in-law, Joe.  Not too long after he bade farewell far too soon to his beloved Suzy B. in June 2009, he started asking Margaret if we would sell our house and move across town and in with him.  It is the house where Margaret was born and raised.  It is the house where she and the kids were living way back when we started dating in June 1991.  

Living under the same roof as my father-in-law has been an educational experience for me.  He has taught me a lot.  I marvel at his courage.  In the past fifteen years he has buried his mother-in-law, his siblings, and his wife.  Yet, he has endured.  Hell, he has done far more than simply endure.  He has lived.  

Today is Joe’s birthday.  He is ninety years old.  Way back when, in 2018, he celebrated it with Maggie.  She was slightly less than eleven months old and it was the first birthday of his they celebrated together.  

Joe Joe and Maggie - BDay #85

(2018)

Yesterday, we celebrated his 90th birthday with Salli Jo joining us from the NY side of the Hudson, Suzanne, Ryan, and all three of Joe Joe’s Watchung great grandchildren:

Joe, Maggie, Cal & Rylan

(BDay #90 - 2023)

This Fab Four not only posed for photos together, they combined their voices to sing a rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday” and their lungs to blow out the candles on the birthday boy’s cake.

Team Candle Power

(BDay #90 - 2023)

Not every day is one on which I get to see these three of my grandchildren blowing out birthday candles with their great grandfather.  Yesterday was such a day.   I am forever grateful. 

-AK