Today is my Mom's 61st Birthday, and I wish her health, happiness, and another quarter century of the same.
As a small present to her I'm going to post some pictures of her 60th birthday party. They've asked for copies of these forever, but I'd misfiled them on my computer and only recently discovered them. To prove I put some thought into this, I loaded them a few weeks back in preparation for this post.
A word of warning to family: I'm sure I'll mislabel some of the pictures. If you find a mistake don't be a jerk and make a show of it; just drop me an email and I'll correct them within reason. And yeah, it was my camera, so there's gonna be a lot of pictures of my family. No apologies for that.
And now, on with the show!
I would imagine the next two need no caption
Note the pony in the picture on the table? Back in the '50's a man came through the neighborhood offering pony rides for a fee and my Mom took him up on the offer. My grandma's in the other shot. She passed away the year prior. Still, 59 years with your Mom - not a bad run.
That's my Mom seated with my Great Aunt Mabel, who's talking to my second/third? cousin Brian. My Dad stands in the background and my niece Stacey is by the door. Not sure who the other folk are.
The hottie on the right is Lisa; to her left my Great Aunt Mamie's daughter Rosie (whew!) and her boyfriend, my cousin Pam Brown, my Mom's god-daughter and her life partner.
This my maternal Grandfather's nephew and his wife. I sat with them for awhile.
You know, come to think of it Lisa was FIVE months pregnant at the party. I'm not sure who this gentleman is.
Let's see who's new in this one . .the priest, obviously. I think he's from St. John Kanty. The man with the coat in his hands is my Godmother's son Brian. I remember playing Matchbox cars with him in the waiting room when his sister was born 25+ years ago. My niece Caitlin stands with her back to the camera.
An overview of the room at some point. LuLu stands to the right of the foreground, my Mom's friends son Max to the left.
You should know who these two are by now: Aunt Mabel and Brian. My father and Uncle George, the photographer of the Danny pics of 3/19, stands next to him.Note the studmuffin at the table in the left background. Next to me is my cousin Pon, who's a go-to guy in my maintenance department. When something breaks around the house, be it a pipe or one of the kids toy's, they say "maybe Pon can fix it".
The lady who's second to the left is my Grandmother's best friend of 70+ years, Gertie. Not sure of the rest.
Gosh these kids are cute. Whoever bred to make them must be spectactular . . oh, wait. They're mine!
Linda,my Mom's friend/mother of Max, and my sister Chrissy.
Yeeeeeeaaaahhhhh . . no clue.
Gertie and Mabel again . . Gertie's late husband Vern lost an eye to the Japanese in the war, something I always found fascinating. Vern, I'd imagine, found it less entertaining.
My sister Katie with my Dad's side of the family. R-L Katie, Great Aunt Diane, her daughter Doris, and one of my Dad's cousins.
Same table, better light. My mother-in-law sits on the right.
Two shots of my Mom with all her godchildren. That's Linda's kid Anna on her lap, my cousin Becky, Pon's wife, to the left. You've met the rest.
My Mom opening her gifts.
Some random hot pregnant chick.
After the party we tore down the tables and chairs and chatted for awhile. The kids practiced gymnastics, and with some prompting Lisa completed a pregnancy ritual: as with all her pregnancies, she did some cartwheels. I think I tried/did? get some video of the act, but no still pictures.
This next one isn't even from the party, but I had thought it was, until I recognized the background. It's still cute.
I hate to end of a sour note, but before it was over we had an infamous accident. LuLu somehow gouged the back of her heel and it bled profusely and consistently. She nearly required stiches and soaked through bandages for a few days. She still remembers it too, referencing it out of the blue whenever injured.
Still a fun party and well deserved.
Bouncing back to the present - Happy 61st birthday Mom and many more! I love you!
