On Friday – as the end of October approaches – so does the 3rd of this month’s 3 generations of birthdays. Of course Maria’s has been celebrated the longest.
It’s now been 53 years since we met, and the first party I went to with her was a late October birthday party for the friends celebrating birthdays in 1970.
Been a while I guess.
I don’t think Maria’s birthday party will be a week long affair like Susannah’s, but hopefully the grandkids will be out on the weekend to help her celebrate. As we get older it’s increasingly important to remember these anniversaries and especially be thankful for the person who’s having them.
So Happy Birthday dear Maria and thanks for being part of my life every day. All my love.
For younger folks maybe it’s the “Bat Flip” or Kawhi’s 4-bounce bucket. But for Sarah and me it’s Oct 23, 1993 – 30 years ago. The greatest moment in Toronto sports history. We were there.
How important is a walk off World Series home run? When we went to Cooperstown in 2000, we saw Joe’s bat there – right beside Bill Mazeroski’s from 1960. I remember that home run too – heard it on the radio, in my Grade 10 classroom.
I’ll never forget that roller coaster of a game in ’93. Jays up 5-1 after a Paul Molitor home run. The bullpen choking. Trailing 6-5 going into the 9th. Mitch Williams jogging in from the bullpen.
I didn’t feel too bad though. Mitch had been shaky all series long. We had two Hall of Famers coming up. After a walk to Ricky Henderson and another Molitor line drive, I was pretty confident the Jays would tie it up.
When Joe got down two strikes I was a bit worried. Then came my favorite pitch of all time – poorly located fastball – down and in but over the plate.
Joe smoked it. Sarah screamed “Stay fair! Stay fair!” I thought it would hit the left field fence and we’d get two runs. Suddenly I saw Pete Incaviglia give up and start to turn toward the infield. “Touch ’em all Joe!”
It was over. Suddenly and violently and oh so sweetly over. I have never before or since been in a ballpark where 50,000 fans were jerked from worry to screaming insanity. I’ll never forget it. 30 years ago today. God bless you Mitch, wherever you are.
It’s now nine years that I have been publishing this blog on its own server with a customized domain and Web address. Of course, I have been writing a blog since 2002, and before that had a personal website since 1997.
The Web has changed a lot since then of course. Most photos today are taken with smartphones. There is a lot more video-centric content published. Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok are far more important than a simple family-based blog. But I continue; I persevere.
A lot has happened in 9 years. My hearing and sight deteriorated but I have got that fixed to some extent. We went on a few more cruises. The grandkids have grown up incredibly. We still take shopping holidays down in Syracuse NY.
This was Sarah’s gang back in 2014.
And here they are now.
I plan to keep on with this old school way of doing things. I can take better photos now with my smartphone, but I still prefer an actual camera. I’ll never be a fan of videos.
Anyway, if you have read this blog over the years I hope you have enjoyed it. You will at the very least kept in touch with our family.
Susannah turns 10 years of age on this coming Monday.
She’s a lot like her mother in many ways. Although she’s still in elementary school she’s busy thinking about where she’ll go to university and what sort of career she’d like. Right now it’s a tossup between architecture and engineering. We’ll see.
She could combine STEM with art as she’s good in both math and drawing.
I am a person who loves it when a kid grows up and becomes a young lady or man, so I really appreciate Susannah at this age. My next project will be a childish one though. I want to teach her how to play Euchre – her older siblings are getting pretty good at it but we can have a four handed game if she learns. Good fun.
She is already a demon UNO player and like the other kids loves to “get” Grandpa. She’s also great at Trivia – again like her mother.
She’s busy planning a craft marketing project with proceeds going to charity. Some sort of jewelry and hair schrunchies items which likely will require a hot glue gun. I hope that works out OK. It’s not something I’d want to get involved in – I’ll stick to math and science.
She and her sister had a great time as flower girls at their Cousin Rachel’s wedding in September. A lovely pair.
Happy birthday my dear Susannah and I hope I’m around to see you make all those plans and dreams come true.
