Happy birthday Coachlaw

[Curmudgeon]

Have a great birthday Sandy!


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[S-troop]

Happy Birthday!!


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[Williep]

Happy Birthday Sandy !!!

[ByroJaka]

Happy Birthday Sandy!!

[Ibtsoom]

Hoppy Bearthday too joo!!!


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[WestEndAngler]

Happy Birthday Sandy!

[plugger]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY , SANDY !

[imhammer]

Happy Birthday Sandy!

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[coachlaw]

I humbly thank y'all for the well wishes. All I did on my birthday is drive all over the place, so I'm taking today to celebrate it. The big 4 5 today. Quite an achievement for a boy who wasn't supposed to last more than a couple days back in '73. Great to wake up this AM and see so many well wishes here.

Every birthday, I try to reflect on past ones. The one that strikes me most today was when I turned 9 in 1982. I woke up and was allowed to have Fruity Pebbles for breakfast. This was a miracle of the first order, as my mother vehemently denied us sugared cereal. It was her war against tooth decay. I guess it worked because I've only had 2 cavities in 45 years.

After breakfast, I was told my birthday present was right outside the back door. I rushed out to find a brand new steel blue Schwinn Scrambler with Oakley grips. What a great day! I rode that bike with my buddies all day long. When we got hot, we'd stop at somebody's house and douse ourselves in the hose. The ice cream man made his rounds and when he heard it was my birthday, he gave me a free Bomb Pop. Now this was no small gift I assure you. The red, white, and blue rocket shaped frozen treat was the top dollar, high class prize of the ice cream man's menu. We all lay down in the cool grass under my buddy Chad's weeping willow tree and regaled each other with stories of our BB gun prowess while devouring our frozen yummies.

This of course had to lead to a marksmanship battle, as everyone now had to prove the accuracy of which we boasted. We all rode home to get our BB guns and the armed armada of bicycle toughs descended upon the vacant lot with the biggest oak tree. We brought targets of all kinds. Coke cans were my favorite, because most of the time, the BBs would get caught in them. You could pour the BBs out of the can and shoot them again. We shot for hours before retiring the guns home in the late afternoon, in favor of our baseball bats and gloves. I can't remember who won the competition, but I was a good enough shot that I won a lot of these, so it could have been me that day.

We played baseball until the sun went down and you couldn't see the baseball well enough to hit it anymore. I remember riding my bike home after sunset. I remember looking West at the painted sky and thanking God I was born on the longest day of the year, so that on my birthday, I got more sunshine than any other kid got on theirs.

I lovingly washed and wiped down my Schwinn Scrambler like she was a trusty steed after a long dusty Western movie ride. There's always something special about a boy's first real "big boy" bike. I still remember every inch of that bike. I loved her until I found a used Mongoose a couple years later and HAD to upgrade.


Supper was "Scagetties and meatballs", followed by the family birthday stuff. What made this birthday so special I think, is it was the first one where my parents didn't make a big deal to have a party and invite people and all that jazz. I did what I wanted to the whole day. I never had to dress up, never had to hang out with kids I didn't like, didn't have to play stupid party games, etc. It was the first birthday that was MINE. I wish my mom was here today so I could thank her for that.


Tonight I think I'll ask my sister in law for some Scagetties and Meatballs.

[jerrym]

Happy Birthday

Just sent you a PM