Four Birthdays And A Funeral

Four of our family members have birthdays in December. My father was born on this date -- December 13Th. He has been gone a long time, but I always think of him on this day and I often know his spirit is around because he sends me little reminders, always connected to the number "13".

Here's a picture of Dad, my two oldest daughters and me, taken in the days when my "Farrah Fawcett" hairdo was actually in style!



Next in age is my younger sister, Cindy, born on the 5Th. Cindy never misses a chance to call Gampy or me on our birthday (usually as early as possible) to sing "Happy Birthday!" and we always try to return the favor, again...as early as possible.

Cindy is the one in orange in the picture below. This picture was taken when I was in the Air Force and home on leave in 1969. Cindy had just turned 12, I was 19, sister Becky was 9 and little Tori was 22 months.



My first born, Jenny, was born on the 7Th and, as you can see, she was a beautiful baby. The picture below was taken at 2 weeks old. She looked like a 3 month old at that point. I think it was because she was overdue by almost 2 weeks. See how the size 0 to 3 month size sleeper was already too short for her torso? When she was born she was 8 lbs 14 oz and not a wrinkle on her face.



Here's Jenny and Dad together. This is one of my favorite pictures of my Dad because he had just had a lung removed and it made us realize that life is short and not to be wasted.



The youngest of our December birthdays is our son-in-law Mike. He became a father this year when Ben was born, but Doggy Dee has called him Daddy for years.



Sadly, in 1969, my father's mother died on Dec 9Th and was buried on Dad's birthday -- Dec 13Th -- that year. Her name was Sabra. When Jenny was born 4 years later just a few days shy of the day Grandma died, we gave her the middle name Sabra in memory of my grandmother.



The thing I loved about Grandma Sabra was her spirit -- And, how she loved to play penny-ante-poker. Notice there's a deck of cards on that table in front of her. Her favorite game was "Aces, Deuces, Jokers and 1-Eyed-Jacks Wild".

As a kid, I thought this was a great game and never questioned the sanity of it. But when I was an adult and explained how to play it to a group of guys, one of them pointed out that the majority of the cards in the deck were wild. That was so like Grandma. She loved to win and with that many wild cards, she usually did!

So Happy Birthday again to all you December babies.

Especially happy birthday to you Dad, on your birthday today. Please know that you are missed... I hope Grandma Sabra is letting you win a few pots in the penny-ante poker games up there.