Happy 85th Birthday Dad

In 1962 (11-9-62) my parents got married - I also got a Father - I was 11
years old at the time. It could not have been easy for him, he went from no
children to a house full of five children, yet he rose to the occasion,
emotionally and financially.

When he was dating my mother I used to play the song "Big John" when he came
to pick her up. I had the volume as loud as it could go, it must have driven
him nuts, but he never said a word.

Not that everything was always perfect. I remember my first driving lesson
with him in the car, and him jumping out of the car as soon as I pulled the
car into the driveway, I definitely did not impress him with my driving
skills.

And, of course, there were the many heated political discussions; this was
the Vietnam era after-all.

Then when we moved out to the house in Normandy West, he got me a car (kids,
especially girls, did not have cars back then), so I could continue to
attend Wyandotte High School.

He was my debutante escort, he took me to college, and he walked me down the
aisle.

He has always been there for me, always supportive, never judgmental, and he
has always made me feel like I was a princess.

Thank you for being such a great Dad!

June 20th - Florida, Massachusetts and Maine

I headed to Florida in May to visit my younger son Marcus and get some sun.
The weather was not the greatest, so I got to spend a lot of time with
Marcus and catch up on my movies. I think we saw six movies (which means it
was rainy on six afternoons).

I did manage to get in some beach and pool time along with some shopping and
visits to The Alligator Farm in St. Augustine and to Disney World in
Orlando. The trails in the Palm Coast area are fantastic, so we also got in
a lot of hiking.

On my way out of Orlando I stopped and visited with Brad and Gloria, who
put me up for the night since I had an early flight the next morning. We had
a lovely time catching up and enjoyed a great dinner. Thank you Brad and
Gloria!

I flew into Boston and headed up to Maine to watch my first Lacrosse game.
Very exciting since it was for the state championship and the team we were
rooting for won. This would be Michael Ryan's last high school game since he
is a graduating senior. It was very emotional for the family. We stayed with
Sean and Lindsay Ryan and enjoyed a new feast every night - the best was the
warm lobster salad - it melted in your mouth.

After a Father's Day brunch for all of the "Dads" in the group (Farmer,
Sean, Charlie and Al) we headed back down to Boston for a little relaxation.

The cool weather seemed to be following me wherever I went on this trip,
finally warming up to a reasonable temperature the day before I needed to
head back to Denver.

I am heading to Kansas City to spend some time with my Dad before his 85th
birthday party on June 30th. Should be a great time and a chance to see some
people I haven't seen in many years.