Turning Seventy

 

                             Oh my, where did the years go? On July 8th, I had my 70th birthday and it seems like just yesterday, almost fifty years ago, that I was getting married. As I look back it seems like the years flew by. We have raised eight children in three different houses. We have fourteen grandkids, one great-grandchild, and are expecting two more grandkids. So I feel like my life has been productive and, although there are some things I would change if I could, I am mostly pleased with the way things have turned out.

 

                             Our kids gave their Dad a surprise party when he turned seventy years old two years ago. I told my daughter Katherine, who lives the closest to me, that they better not give me a party when I turned seventy and she assured me that they wouldn't. They know that I am sort of anti-social and don't like being the center of attention. So she and Susan, another daughter, and my granddaughter Mylah, took me to La Finca for a quiet dinner and that was good and I thought that was it. Little did I know that they were planning a big party in Dallas for me. Of course, they let Jerry in on it. We were going to Dallas, which is a two hour drive for us, for our grandson Daniel's first birthday party on a Saturday. So Jerry says "let's go on Friday and spend the night in a hotel instead of rushing on Saturday morning".  So I said okay. So our daughter Rita and Katherine, who had already gone to Dallas, called and said "why don't we meet at the Spaghetti Factory restaurant and have dinner on Friday night" and we said okay. Well, when we got there, Katherine came out to show us which room we were going to eat in. When we walked into the room it was to a room full of people and an Elvis Impersonator singing to me. I was totally shocked and surprised. I looked around and there was my son Sid and my daughter Marjorie from New Mexico, Angie and her baby from Hondo, Luanne and her family from Rockwall, Vicki and her family from Mt. Enterprise, Susan and her husband Pap from Marshall, as well as Katherine and Rita and their families. Also Jerry's sister Nelwyn and two of her kids and families. Elvis sang to us for about an hour and I even sang with him, which surprised me and everybody else, and after he left we had a good meal and visited. Vicki had put together a slide show of my life and it was great. All the kids had a part in planning the party and it was just great. I really enjoyed it and am thankful to them for caring about me enough to do this. Katherine did the decorations which is what she does for a living and they were wonderful. I have always loved Elvis so the Elvis Impersonator was icing on the cake. But the best thing was having all my family there except for two grandsons who could not come. The fact that Sid and Marge came all the way from New Mexico was very touching.

 

                       The next day we got to go to Rita's house for Daniel's party. It was fun hanging out with everyone again and eating lots of good food there. Family is wonderful and I feel sad for those who don't have anyone to care about them. I made mistakes raising my kids but they all know that I loved them then and love them now. And I hope and think they love me too. God is great and I am so blessed!